Once a human being is born a journey of choices begin. There are two possible end points of this journey: Heaven or hell. It is in the choices we make which our sense experience gravitates along the journey. Good choices and the Kingdom of God will influence our experiential walk. Bad choices and the realm of Satan will influence our experiential walk.

If we constantly make bad choices our life may seem like hell on earth.

If we constantly make good choices and make one horrible choice, then the hell on earth feeling may still arise. Like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, the ultimate choice will fulfill the destiny God intends for humanity: the Heaven of the Kingdom of God.

Unfortunately there are many that are hardened by bad choices who curse God and die like the other thief on the other cross next Jesus. That destination will always lead to hell. Don’t let your dieing breath be to curse God and die.

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Up Where You Belong

Sit with God or Sit in the Cheap Seats (with Satan)
Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Sep 11 2006 04:35AM

Visionary Advancement Strategies InJesus Group

Your great High Priest says to you and to me, “I know how it looks from the perspective of the audience! I know how you feel, but I have a better place and a better seat reserved for you.” (God’s Eye View, p. 164)

Do things look bad for you right now? Do you feel trapped and doomed to live in failure or embarrassment for the rest of your days?

The thief on the cross couldn’t have had a worse view of life and death as he gasped for breath on a Roman cross. Death for him was guaranteed just before sundown at the latest, and he had two choices—curse God and die (the option chosen by the other thief), or believe God and live. He asked Jesus to remember him, but the Lord did for him what He did for us—He gave him a “backstage pass” to the mystery play of life.

Things aren’t so rosy for the arch rebel and those who follow him down the wide and easy path of rebellion.

Satan has an eternity-long box seat in the back row of the theater of God. He can’t figure out what’s going on, he’s powerless to change or modify God’s script, and if he could read God’s script (he does know how to quote a few lines here and there), he still wouldn’t understand it. He doesn’t have the key to understanding the Word—the Holy Spirit. He can’t even get good popcorn—all he ever gets is the burned stuff at the bottom with a hint of sulfur flavoring. (p. 165)

Why do I spend so much time and space describing Satan’s limited options? It is because his options are our options if we fail to follow the Son of God in life and in death.

Do you sometimes feel as if Satan’s misery has become your misery? Do you feel powerless to change or modify the “script” of your life? Do you want to shout and shake your fist at God over your troubled childhood, the color of your skin, the poverty in your family, or your limited options in life?

I have two things to say to you. First, Jesus understands your anger, your frustration, and your pain. That is why He came to take your place on the tree of blame. Second, you are not powerless to change your destiny as long as you retain the power of choice.

The thief on the tree was out of options—he was beyond the forced solitude of death row, he was “in the chair” and minutes from death. Yet he exercised the power of choice and chose Jesus Christ. That brief thirty-second exchange with Jesus changed his eternity from doom and damnation to eternal joy! Are you still breathing? Then you still have the power of choice—choose now (and trust the rest to Him).