Choosing Jesus
by Katie Harding on June 13, 2022
No one can choose Jesus for you. They may want Jesus for you, but they can’t choose Him for you. That choice has to be a personal one; others can’t make you choose anything. In fact, years ago, a doctor friend told me that physicians can use a probe to touch any part of the brain to make a person perform a certain action, except one: to choose. Choosing Jesus is something only you can do for you.
“Choosing Jesus is something only you can do for you.”
When we choose Jesus, we are inviting Him to restore His light — the light of His Spirit that was removed from Man in the garden — to the darkness of our own souls. This is what it means to be born again. God’s Spirit takes up residence in our soul to give us NEW LIFE. We move from death, mortal sin-filled human beings, to life, immortal Spirit-filled beings. This isn’t something that occurs when our physical bodies fail, it happens now, while we still walk this earth, to allow us to live the life God intended — empowered through Him and in relationship with Him.
And the sins that were present? They are forgiven—all of them. We don’t have to remove our sins before we can be born again. That is God’s grace. In ancient times, people had to purify themselves to come into God’s presence, but now, with that one act of choosing Jesus, God restores His Light to our life and initiates the purifying process. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…” Ephesians 2:4-5.
God has moved into the neighborhood of our lives to begin the clean-up process Himself. Because even though our sins are forgiven, we need help to change the desires that caused them in the first place. That help is called spiritual formation, and the work we undergo with the Spirit is called transformation.
Yet, it all begins with making a choice — a choice that will give us a new spiritual life, a choice that will bring Light into the darkened crevices of our soul, a choice will reestablish our relationship with God and restore us to the life God intended. This first choice is to consciously choose Jesus.