I was praying recently and the thought “Jesus is my only option” kept playing through my mind. I felt God’s power come on me tangibly as a prayed “Jesus, you’re my only option!”, so I’m writing about this thought today.

Be Angry And Don’t Sin!

My family has been hard-pressed in Brazil. Over the last year and a half, it’s crazy how much injustice and corruption we’ve confronted, especially being victims of fraud. Sometimes angry, vengeful thoughts come to tempt me. The feeling of anger and indignation seems overwhelming at times.

It’s right to be angry over injustice. As I’m reading scripture, I notice repeatedly how much God hates greed, oppression, and injustice. I think a lot of people miss the many passages like this:

James 5:1-6 (NRSV) Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

However, God’s anger is born of love for people. It’s not self-centered. And so when scripture tells us to “be angry and do not sin,” it’s speaking of an anger that is born of love, that burns to see redemption, and not an anger that comes from a self-centered position or from self-pity, as only “look what they’ve done to me!”

As I’ve faced all wild circumstances and often felt the temptation to respond with vengeance, the phrase keeps coming to me “My only option is Jesus!” It’s not that I don’t have free will or different choices. But my only option that is going to lead to any place good is yielding to the Spirit of Christ. My only option is to participate in God’s love. This doesn’t mean not being angry, but it means totally rejecting the self-centered position. It means whatever I feel, yielding to God’s perspective and letting him teach me. It’s the only option that will ever lead to any place good! It also means trusting God’s nature, in that He is a just judge.

James 1:20 (NIV) “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

Guilt and Condemnation Are Not An Option!

Sometimes if we mess up we are tempted to stay in a place of guilt and condemnation. Have you ever been there? “I just blew it again!” Thank God that it bothers you when you haven’t accurately represented Christ’s nature! It shows that God has made you righteous and given you a new heart!

Staying in guilt and condemnation is never an option. Not that we can’t choose to do so, but it will never lead to any place good. My only option is to approach God’s throne of grace boldly through Christ! Drawing back is not an option. My only option is to go to heaven now!

My only option is to open my heart up to God’s love, let the Father love me, and give myself completely over to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of love! My only option is to yield everything to the Holy Spirit.

Well, it’s not my only option. But it’s the only option worth choosing.

Self-Pity Is Not An Option

Life comes from partaking of the nature of Jesus, and Jesus is not self-centered. When he was being crucified, he was thinking of the joy set before him, you and I. In the midst of great pain and suffering, Jesus never stopped loving.

And this is why Jesus was anointed with joy above all others. Living a life of love is the only option that leads to true joy.

When we truly understand God’s favor which rests on us when we are in Christ, it leaves no place for self-pity.

Who Else Should We Go To?

John 6:67-69 (NIV) You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Things are tough, and I don’t always feel like I know how to handle the circumstances, but I have no other place to go than Jesus, because nobody else has the words of life.

 “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”  This is the only option that will ever end well.

I pray we would all come to the place where we take this attitude, becoming fully convinced and making the resolute decision that “I have only one option.”

Many times we’ve been deceived to think we have other options…to think that reacting outside of the Spirit of Christ will help to resolve things.

This is often because an antichrist spirit has presented us with a twisted vision of who God is. Then we think we have other options that will get us somewhere.

I don’t understand everything, but I do not that God is good, he is a just judge, and only Jesus has the words of life.