What decision would you make?

We’ve all had to make difficult decisions in our lives. Whether to own or rent a house, whether to use an inheritance to invest or to see the world, whether to have more children or close up shop. But as difficult as those decisions may feel at the time, I’m sure not many of us have had to make the decision 28-year-old Aron Ralstron made in 2005. Aron had to choose to live or die.

It all started when he broke the cardinal rule of mountain climbing: always take a buddy, or at least tell someone where you are going. He went climbing on his own and after climbing down a narrow slot in Bluejohn Canyon, Utah, a boulder shifted and crushed his left arm, pinning him to the canyon wall.

He tried desperately to move the rock but it wouldn’t budge an inch. Aron wasn’t expected at work for days, and when people did decide to come looking for him, they would have no idea where to start. He knew he was going to die. He carved his name and “RIP” in the rock and used his camera to record messages to his family. After 5 days he was famished, dehydrated, and dying. That’s when he had to make a choice: live or die.

He chose life, but it came at a price.

Aron used the blunt 2-inch blade on his multitool pocketknife and methodically sawed off his own arm, through the skin, the muscle, the nerves, and eventually the bone, after which, he still had to climb down a 65-foot drop and hike 7 miles before he was picked up.

But the decision had been made. He wanted to live and was willing to do whatever it took.

In Deuteronomy 30 we see Israel, on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Promised Land. Moses reminds them yet again of God’s goodness, their responsibilities to the covenant, and the consequences of disobedience. He sets out the choice…

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

3 HELPS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CHOICE YOU HAVE

1. THE DECISION IS INEVITABLE

As baseball sage Yogi Berra once said: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

The fork in the road Moses pointed out to the nation of Israel is a decision every person must make for himself. Not just those present, not just those in the future of the nation Israel, but in a real sense every person who ever lives must choose between life or death. Everyone must choose. To not choose, is to make a choice.

But it is the nature of the sinner to put off making the decision to follow God’s ways. We tend to try to mix the two ways. We are obedient when it suits us, and when it doesn’t, we are simply disobedient.

Stop standing with one foot in the world and one in the church. Stop dabbling with God’s way and with your sin. Make your choice.

2. THE DECISION IS URGENT

The choice is between life and death.

It is not something you want to mess around with. For Israel, choosing life meant keeping the covenant. On this side of the New Testament curtain, we know that the decision now is to follow Christ or not. If you reject Jesus, you are choosing spiritual death. You will go to eternal destruction in hell. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

If you reject Jesus’s free offer you are discarding the only vaccine that can save you from the deadly plague of sin.

But if you choose Jesus, you are choosing eternal life.

In your evangelism, you need to include a note of urgency. It is not about choosing between two equally valid ways. There is only one way and you must choose it. Your job is to tell people that.

3. THE DECISION IS IMPOSSIBLE

The decision is an easy one to make, right? Choose life.

But we know from the Bible’s record of their history that Israel continually chose idols over God. They chose death rather than life, time and time again.

It is the same with sinners who need to leave the harsh taskmaster of their own sin and choose the easy yoke of Christ. It is the easiest decision in the world, but they cannot make that break. They have a spiritual Stockholm Syndrome, a voluntary attachment to their captor.

Why? Why is it so hard to choose Christ? Because, although salvation is absolutely free, it will cost you everything.

You need to tell people this in your evangelism: God is angry with you, and you are on the way to hell. But if you submit to Jesus and ask Him to save you, you will be saved, and you will have to give up all your sin, and Jesus will change your desires and you will lose your entire present lifestyle, possibly your family and friends and your career.

But this is how Jesus preached the gospel: He would find what was most precious to people and tell them to choose between him and that treasure.

Matt 19:21-22 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Luke 14::25-26 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. If you evangelize like this you might chase people away. But you can’t coax someone into this type of commitment. They have to decide for themselves and then live out that decision, with the help of the Holy Spirit, for the rest of their lives.

CONCLUSION: If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, I implore you to choose life. Yes, it may cost you family and friends and a job and life as you know it, but it will be worth it. I promise.

Jesus died so that you can be saved from your sin and guilt and condemnation in hell. There is no offer like it in the Universe. But you must come on his terms. When you come to the end of yourself, you look up and find yourself at the foot of the cross.

Aron Ralstron’s sacrifice was serious, but it was necessary to save his life.Christ’s sacrifice was immeasurable, but it was necessary to save your life… forever.

Author: Cripplegate