Choose Jesus.

Parables.

If I tell you a parable it isn't necessarily factual, in fact it could be quite the opposite. I could tell you a parable of a lion and a mouse- the lion with a thorn in its paw it can't get out… oh, you know that parable, but you call it a fable they are basically the same thing. There is a story being told that has a moral meaning in it, but the story itself is not necessarily based on real happenings. We all know that a lion and a mouse do not converse and most certainly a lion would not let a mouse near it's sore paw - those things are facts. The lion would not be in debt to a mouse in reality but for the sake of the parable this story lion was in debt to the mouse and later when the mouse was in trouble the lion saved the mouse- returning the favor rendered.  The moral of that particular fable was we should do good even to those we are afraid of and can hurt us and one day maybe that will help us out.

Jesus spoke in a lot of parables, telling a lot of stories that had meanings beyond the literal words He was speaking. In fact if we took parables literally then we would miss their meaning entirely.  The parable of the seed sown would mean nothing more than seed being sown, some coming up and some not, and there would be no hidden meaning, no lesson to learn whatsoever. We'd just realize the obvious. Of course the seed that falls on a rock won't have dirt to take root in…end of story. That's not what Jesus meant though, He had a lesson to teach.

The following is a parable so for us to interpret it literally would make no sense whatsoever yet people have taken it literally.

Mar 9:43  And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 

Mar 9:44  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 

Mar 9:45  And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 

Mar 9:46  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 

Mar 9:47  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 

Mar 9:48  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 

Yes, I told you some people have taken this parable to be literally and have actually sought to maim themselves thinking that would rid them of the ability to sin with said part they are maiming.

What is the parable's true meaning? What is Jesus trying to convey here? The extreme importance of recognizing the offenses we commit and the striving not to commit those offenses. First we have to comprehend what we are allowing ourselves to do with our hands, feet, eyes… our bodies. What controls all of these physical attributes? Does a handless, footless, blind person not have the ability to sin? You might be tempted to answer yes to that question believing that the ability to sin would be gone but that blind man could be caught up in a mental battle of lust, or the one orchestrating intricate plans of thievery and running a drug operation as the brains of the outfit so to speak if nothing much more. Farfetched maybe, but impossible, no. A man sent into war whole bodied might not return as such, but that won't change the man's ability to sin with his thoughts- using other people to carry out acts of sin for him, or with prosthetics and such carrying them out himself.

PARABLE.

What Jesus wants us to realize is how truly important it is that we recognize the evil we are tempted to commit and in recognizing choose not to sin. That it is much better for us to sacrifice to the extreme in order not to sin, than to give into the sinning as if it won't have consequences. 

The kingdom of God will not be filled with one eyed, one hand, one footed people, but it will be filled with those who have realized the need to sacrifice selfishness, flesh prone lusts, all that would keep them from being committed to serving Christ Jesus, to loving God first and foremost and then others as God would have them loved.

The kingdom of God will not be filled with those who are not God's. NOT EVERYONE is going to heaven! This is truth, a truth we like to ignore and sweep under a rug and shove that filth hiding rug in a hole and bury it deep. We don't want to think about the possibility of the majority of the world's people not going to heaven- it messes up our idea of God simply forgiving everyone and not making anyone accountable for actions they choose to commit.

God will and can forgive anyone, but not everyone wants forgiveness and this is truth. God knows the hearts and knows the truth of every person's choice to serve Him or not serve Him.  There will not be a single person in heaven who has not surrendered themselves to God's will, to God's truth, to God's love.

We must make a choice and it's a constant - living the truth of that choice- renewing that choice always- above many, many temptations that will come our way.

God help us to always choose HIM over all!

We would be HIS!