Decide

 

In the film Kingdom of Heaven, while Sybilla and Balian are together, she says a profound statement, “Their prophet says submit, Jesus says Decide.” The line perfectly incapsulates the theologies of Islam and Christianity, Islam means “submission to God* [see footnote at end of post]” and Christianity being Decide, as in decide to believe, “for whoever believes in his Only Son shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

 I have often meditated on this line of Sibylla delivered by Eva Green, it harkening to the hymn, “I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus! I have decided to follow Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back.” (Sudha Sundar Singh, or pastor Simon K Marak from Jorhat, Assam).  That our Lord Jesus calls to all, but you must decide to believe, to trust in Jesus as Lord and Son of God. Our Savior does not coax with a sword or demand our allegiance, the decision is left to each person, be a disciple or not. While Calvinists will bo doubt cite “many are called, few are chosen,” (Matthew 22:14) which actually more accurately is “For many are called (invited, summoned), but few are chosen,” (Amplified Bible), that Jesus first chose us, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes,” (Ephesians 1:4), yes He did but you still have to respond to His choosing, pre-destination is because God does not live in time, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” (2 Peter 3:8) and so He can see you chose Him and for-knew you would decide to follow Him and answer His call, but you must decide, we are not collected like Pokemon by Christ, rather it is like getting married you have to consent and say “I do”, to Christ, for we are Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). After all the word in John 3:16 “believe” is “to commit” like in a marriage commitment. 

Do we have to decide each day to follow Jesus? Is it a one time thing or a daily decision? For Paul says its like one time thing, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10), but Jesus says “if anyone would become my disciple they must pick up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). These two verses are reconciled in that you are saved as Romans 10:9-10 says, the moment you decide and say I do (commit) to Jesus, you are married to Him the first moment you believed, and promised eternal life, but like a marriage you must keep at the relationship, and not divorce Him, which is where “pick up your cross daily,” comes from. Because this is a relationship, not a philosophy. Now can you remarry Jesus if say you fall away for a spell? I urge yes, for The Apostle Peter fell away and denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62),  and Jesus remarried Him with “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-19). Just as Prophet Hosea kept pursing his bride Gomer who fell away, so Jesus “leaves the ninety-nine to find lost sheep.” (Luke 15:4-7). 

You are saved the day you confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead, you are sealed unto salvation, but it is relationship hence, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3). Know here is Epignosko or Ginosko in the Greek which means to know in a deep relationship even at the level of intimacy of sex like Adam knew his Wife (Genesis 4:1). The relational aspect gets drowned out by words like faith, which sound so esoteric, like you have to keep a faith meter, but it means trust, and the point is when we believe in Jesus we get our sin account removed and have His account of eternal life in marriage replace it, but its also a relationship, He is our God and Husband, “And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi (Husband); and shalt call me no more Baali..” (Hosea 2:16). The problem of religion is it puts us with God into a formula, a rite, and philosophy, we become like Plato’s followers trying to master Jesus’ teachings, when it is meant to be through prism of we are Christ’s Bride, and a relationship of love that grows with God The Son, and through that loving relationship we follow His teachings. That is the issue, people tend to turn faith into a mathematical formula rather than a marriage. And while yes Romans 10:9-10 assures us mathematically we are saved, its because of our relationship with Jesus, that we believe in Him and trust Him; that we decide to marry and live out that marriage with our Messiah and Lord everyday. Its not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9), Jesus paid it all on the cross (Hebrews Chapter 9), but by faith and trust in Jesus & His all sufficient sacrifice we are saved. Our eternal life is secured the moment we confess and believe in Jesus as Lord and Son of God, but we must not ignore we also have committed to a relationship with Jesus our Husband. We do not treat him like, “I said the Sinner’s Prayer and believe, now see ya when I die, I have a life to live,” no! We enter into a relationship as we receive eternal life, and forgiveness of sins; we must carry on in the relationship, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23). When you marry Jesus (believe, have faith in, trust in, confess) you enter the marriage contract which gets your sins wiped out, heaven, and everlasting life, but it also places you in a relationship with God Incarnate that you live out daily. 

Other gods ask you to submit, and crush you with demands of fealty. The True God says “decide” decide to marry Jesus or not, to be at The Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9) or not. And that same Jesus promises an easy yoke, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). Amen. 

Footnotes:

Islam means Submit (Submission) to God and Peace, hence Salam means “peace,”Salam and Islam having root words. However, submission or submit to God better captures the message of Islam as found in The Koran.