Submitted by Sam Nobles
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this
day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region
beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as
for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15 ESV)
Edwin Thomas Booth was a master of the
stage during the late 1800’s. By the age of 15, Edwin had become a premier
Shakespearian actor. Edwin had two brothers that shared the stage with him
named John and Junius. Although both were good actors, they never rose up to
the stature of Edwin. In 1863, the three brothers united their talents to
perform Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Each brother took several roles, and ironically, John, who played the assassin
in Julius Caesar is the same John who literally became an assassin in Ford’s
Theater in 1865. Yes, the name of Edwin Thomas Booth’s brother was John Wilkes
Booth. Edwin, shamed for his brother’s crime, might have never returned to the
stage again had it not been for a twist of fate that took place at a New Jersey
train station. A well-dressed young man pressed by the crowd and lost his
footing causing him to fall between the platform and the moving train. Without
hesitation, Edwin pulled him to safety. Edwin didn’t recognize the young man
he’d rescued, but that knowledge came to him weeks later in a letter from the
chief secretary to General Ulysses S. Grant. The letter Edwin received was
thanking him for saving Robert Todd Lincoln, son of American President, Abraham
Lincoln.
How ironic that while one brother killed
the president, the other brother saved the president’s son. Edwin and John
Booth: Same father, mother, profession, and passion—yet one brother chooses
life, the other death. Though their story is dramatic it is not unique. In
every age of history, on every page of Scripture, the truth is revealed: God
allows us to make our own choice.
In so many areas of life we have no choice
at all, such as gender, siblings or lack thereof, race, or place of birth, but
any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in
the next. Would you rather choose everything in this life, and let God choose
where you spend eternity? You choose the size of your nose, the color of your
hair, the speed of your metabolism, and God chooses where you will spend the
rest of eternity. While it would have been nice if God had let us order life
like we order fast food that is not the case. When it comes to your life on
this earth you weren’t given a voice or a vote, but when it comes to life after
death you were, and in my book that sounds like a good deal.
Anytime the subject of choice comes up I
have to think about the repentant thief on the cross and the choice he made.
Though we know little about him, we do know he made some bad mistakes in life,
but would you consider his life a waste? No, because he is enjoying the fruit
of the one good choice he made. In the end, all of his bad choices were
redeemed by a solitary good one. If you’ve made some bad choices in life, know
that you can make up for those bad choices by making one good choice to accept
Jesus as your Savior. The choice to live for eternity offsets a thousand bad
ones on earth—the choice is yours.
Scripture
to Claim:
And he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to
him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
(Luke 23:42-43 ESV)
