By: Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
Imagine you’re standing in a slave market in the first century. Your hands are bound. You’re hungry, nearly naked, dirty and afraid.
Someone grabs you roughly by the arm and shoves you toward the auction block. You look around at the gathered crowd while they size you up and determine whether you’re worth buying. The auctioneer shouts, “OK, who’ll make the first bid?” “I’ll pay 500 dollars for him.”
You gaze into the crowd of faces looking for the bidder. You see a guy with a smile and a kind face, his hand still raised.
Other bids are made, but each time the guy outbids them. Eventually everyone drops out, and he now owns you.
He pays the auctioneer, unties your hands and takes you to your new home. It’s set on a sprawling farm, and you spot horses and cows grazing. Crops growing. “I don’t know anything about farming or caring for animals. Oh man, this isn’t going to be good,” you tell yourself.
You’re led into the house—not a dirty shed where you thought you’d be kept with the other slaves. A quick tour reveals everything is spotless and first-class.
Only the best is good enough for this guy. “Maybe he’s showing me the house because that’s where he’s going to put me to work,” you think.
He walks you to a bedroom with happy pictures on brightly painted walls. The mattress on the queen-size bed is thicker than any you’ve ever seen.
“Wow, just one night’s sleep in that bed would be heaven.” You almost drool imagining what it would feel like. “This is where you will stay,” your new owner says.
“The dresser is stuffed with new clothes that are yours to wear. The bathroom has everything you’ll need to wash up and relax after a hard day at work.”
You scrunch your eyebrows together, not knowing what to think about what you’re hearing. Could this be true? Is this a setup to dash your hopes in a few minutes?
He slaps you on the back and says, “Get a shower and clean up. I’ll send someone to get you for supper in about an hour. You’ll love my wife’s cooking. Tonight, we’re having T-bone steak and loaded baked potatoes. Hope you’re hungry.”
He smiles and gives you a wink, then walks through the door and closes it behind him. An hour later, you’re seated at a table overflowing with more food than you’ve ever seen. Not only are the promised T-bone and baked potatoes there, but so are all your favorite desserts.
You chow down until you can’t stuff another bite in your mouth. Your owner stands and smiles at you. “You have a choice tonight,” he begins. “Stay here as my slave. “You must work hard, but I’ll be fair and good to you. Or go back to the slave market in the morning and be sold to another owner. What do you want to do?”
What kind of idiot would you have to be to reject this master’s first alternative? Dear reader, you face a similar choice between two distinctly different masters.
You have the world, the flesh and the devil—they come as a package deal—OR Jesus. You get to select one or the other. You. Neither master is forced upon you. You pick.
In his book “Management Course for Presidents,” J. Keith Louden identifies seven qualities that enable someone to make a good decision. Number one on his list is “Foresight: the ability to look ahead and see what’s coming.”
It’s folly to decide between two options without considering what’s down the road. Pros and cons. Benefits and detriments. How you’ll feel about the choice you made when you’re on your deathbed years later.
To choose Jesus over any other master is a no-brainer. It is utter idiocy to reject what Jesus offers and return to the slave market. When you weigh the pros and cons, it’s an easy decision.
Jesus is the only option that makes sense. Do you need to accept Jesus’ offer today? When you weigh the benefits, it really is a no-brainer.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.