Father, You woke me up a little earlier than normal this morning. I am eager to see what You have for me. Help me to be attentive – I don’t want to miss a thing.

1 John 5:6-12 (<<click here)

11And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

Many of us like to straddle the fence – we like to keep all of our options open. But with You, Lord, we have to choose. We are either in or we are out – there is no straddling. Having You gives us eternal life, not having You does not – no gray, just a very clear black or white.

But that surely goes against the grain of our societal mindset. We proudly view ourselves as inclusive – no one left out, no one excluded. Everybody’s happy…right? Uh…no. Lots of room for gray and straddling – no room for black and white and absolutes.

One major point to drive home – Lord, You are the originator of inclusivity. The gift of eternal life is extended to everyone – not some, not a few – every one. Not a single person is excluded by You. But we can exclude ourselves. We are not mindless slaves or puppets or robots. We have also been given the gift of free will. Everyone is included but we can choose to be excluded. We can choose to not abide by the rules but we cannot change the rules.

Lord, help me to be all-inclusive in my love as You are but may I always be clear on which side of the fence I stand. I…choose…You.

May 21st, Sun, 5:59 am