It’s Time to Take Sides

Remember when you were a kid in school and the captain of the team got to pick all the other kids they wanted on their team? Depending on the game, there would often be the same few kids left waiting to be chosen.

Time to Take Sides

As adults, we are occasionally looking for someone to choose us for something. It could be a job, or an opening for some artistic endeavor, a friend’s wedding or an interview for some cause. We want to be invited. We want to be picked. Most of us will notice, somewhere along life’s journey, that it’s time to take sides.

The most important law governing the universe is that of free will. You and I have the ability to choose for ourselves. We choose from the most insignificant to the gravest of actions. There comes a point in every persons life when they have the ability to make the big decisions of life. That moment of accountability is different for each person. For some people, eternity and the complexity of life is grasped as a child. They are fully committed to follow their faith in God and as they learn, they determine to find out how the Creator has set things up, how they work and the Way to navigate their world.

For the rest of us, who either didn’t learn about God or learned some distorted set of ideologies that mock the Truth of His ways, our ability to recognize ourselves as the crescendo of creation is more difficult. Why would we ever choose to follow a dictatorial psychopath who gives big people total power over little people? This is exactly what some people think of free will.

Free Will

Abortion is the ultimate example of this injustice, slavery and all kinds of abuses follow. Dehumanization and commodification of people degrades us all.

Free will is one of the most powerful laws governing the universe. We are free to love, share, serve, and comfort. Obviously, we are free to engage in the opposites too. We choose which side we will be on. Most of us choose somewhere in the middle. Caring here and there, giving to certain charities or whatever.

If you are paying attention, you see a separation happening. Anger and compassion are not the evidence that you’ve chosen a way. Your emotions are meaningless. Your actions determine which side you are on. Actions speak.

The Scripture calls this separation the goats (those who only say they care about others) and sheep (whose actions bear the truth).

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Choose

There are two sides of the Way. The one completely and unequivocally values human beings as tri-part beings with dignity and regards their dignity as a high priority. The other devalues people as temporary, here today and gone tomorrow. So, this moment is all that is important and their emotional state dictates the discourse.

When you notice that it’s time to take sides, which will you choose?