Who Would You Choose? (Hebrews 12:2)

It’s the age old question amongst sports enthusiasts that always generates a lively debate. 

Who would you choose to make the last minute buzzer beater shot in a championship basketball game? Who would you choose to bat in the bottom of the ninth with a tie score and two outs to win the World Series? Who would you choose to make the twenty foot putt on the 18th hole to win the Masters golf tournament? Who is the ultimate clutch player who will deliver when all of the pressure to win is on the line?

The answers could fill an entire day of heated discussion and generate at least a year’s worth of blogs. We all have our favorites and reasons for choosing our favorite athlete and arguably any one of a number of superstars could be successful. What if the outcome was not limited to winning a game or sporting event? What if the outcome was to decide the eternal destiny of your soul? Winning means eternal life and salvation. Losing means torment and suffering. Is there a great religious leader that would be qualified? Who would you choose?

I would choose someone who is alive. 

Every major religion has a prophet or central figure. Abraham for Judaism. Mohammad for Islam. Buddha for Buddhism. Bahaullah for Bahai. Each were great teachers and leaders, yet all of them died and were buried. Only Jesus Christ lived, died, and was resurrected from the dead.

Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.

Luke 22:42 (NLT)

If there was ever a moment when I thought Jesus Christ would not go through with His sacrifice to die on the Cross for our sins, it was here, in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Jesus, in agonizing prayer, literally sweating drops of blood, remained faithful to God, His Father. He prayed to God asking Him to take away the possibility of experiencing the unimaginable torture of the entire sins of the world, past, present, and future, laid upon His Holy Body. He lived a perfect life, never sinning, and in continual communication and reliance upon God. When He considered the full weight of all the sins of the world would soon be placed on Him, He expressed His anxiety but triumphantly declared that He would follow the will of His Father God. He endured the humiliating and painful death on the Cross for our sake. In so doing, God, the Father, honored His obedience by resurrecting Him from the dead. Jesus’ faithfulness in the face of unimaginable suffering proved that only He is worthy to save us from our sins and secure our salvation and eternal life by accepting Him as Lord and Savior. 

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)

Who would I choose?

I choose the living God, Jesus Christ, who proved to all of Creation that He conquered death by being obedient to death on the Cross. 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.