ONE FATAL CHOICE
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Mel Johnson had previously seen the buck on two occasions from different tree stands, but on the Oct 29th 1965, he had a different plan. He quickly constructed a brushy ground blind and sat down. Within minutes he saw the giant buck come into the field at 300 yards. The buck slowly made his way along the edge of the field and at 10 yards the buck made a fatal mistake… he turned his head and looked the other way. That one error of judgement, that one bad decision, on the buck’s part gave Mel the opportunity he needed to rise up, draw and make a perfect shot. Soon Mel had his hands on what would soon be recognized as the typical world record whitetail, harvested with archery gear.
That was 58 years ago this month, on Friday October 29, 1965, that Mel Johnson put his name in the record books. The buck that he harvested just, outside Peoria, IL took over the #1 spot in the Pope and Young Record Books. That buck remains the top archery typical buck of all time.
Judging by the size of the antlers and body that buck had lived a long life and had undoubtedly evaded many hunters, coyotes and vehicles in his life, yet with one poor choice, he paid the price.
Johnson’s buck, if he had not been distracted in the other direction, might have gone on a lived a longer life, but something drew his attention away and his poor choice cost him his life.
This same thing is true for every one of us. Without exception, we all have a time when we’ve made wrong choices, sinful decisions. Each of us has come to a point where we step away from God’s perfect plan for us and look the other way. It’s then that we’ve opened ourselves up to disaster.
In reality everyone of us was born into a sinful life… it’s in human nature since Adam and Eve’s original sin.
Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ the Lord.”
The sin nature that we were all born into; that first bad choice made it impossible for us to be with God as God cannot be with sin. However there’s great news… the second half of this verse says, “But”… then it tells us that Jesus paid the price (the wage) for our sin, when He came to earth to live, die and be raised again.
Mel Johnson’s buck died and that was the end of him, but you and I can have life eternal by accepting the gift mentioned in this last verse. God gives us a choice, to live eternally in heaven some day or to spend eternity in hell. We will spend eternity in one place or the other, its our choice and God has already prepared the way.
What will your choice be? If today is the last day of your life, if you don’t wake up tomorrow morning, do you know without a shadow of a doubt that you will spend eternity in heaven… you can know.
In the book of Acts, verse 16 we read about Paul and Silas are put in jail for preaching about Jesus Christ. During the night there was an huge earthquake and the gates of the jail broke open. The jailer knew those that entrusted him to guard the prisoners would kill him for allowing an escape. He was about the kill himself when the prisoners called out and said they were still there. Having heard what they were preaching and teaching and the songs they sang, as well as the fact that they hadn’t escaped the jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)
Paul’s response in verse 31 is simple and powerful. The same is true for you and me today, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (acts 16:31)
Its that simple… believe on Jesus Christ and who He is and what He did when He came to be a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.
Don’t let another day go by… if you haven’t accepted His gift, stop today and reach out, cry out to Him for salvation from an eternity in hell.
Tomorrow might be too late.
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