Rev. Billy Graham, who died at his home in North Carolina on 21st February 2018 Wednesday at the age of 99, was among the most influential leader of the 20th Century.
Once He said “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
People often ask, “What is the purpose of life?” let me answer in a nutshell, “This life is preparation for the next. God wants you to practice on Earth what you’ll do forever in eternity. C.S. Lewis said “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says, All right, then, have it your way” sadly many people will have to suffer eternality without God because they choose to live without Him on Earth. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense.
Your life isn't an accident. You have a destiny, one that only you can complete. You will live forever in the presence or absence of God, reaping the consequences of your choices and actions on earth (Matthew 25:46). This is why Billy Graham said, "The strongest principle of life and blessings lies in our choice.” Every day, each of us is faced with numerous choices. God has given us the power of choice. Our destiny is our choice. The Bible says, “All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old” (Psalm 139:16). Life is a series of problems and sufferings: The reason for this is that God is more interested in our character than our comfort; God is more interested in making our life holy than He is in making our life happy.
Albert Einstein said “God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God.” Some people today do not wish to accept the responsibility for their actions. They blame society, upbringing, government and the circumstances. But Adam sinned in a perfect environment under perfect circumstances. We can’t blame it all on somebody else. We must accept the blame ourselves for our choice. Society is made up of individuals. If we have social injustice, we’re the ones who are wrong; we’re part of it. Let’s accept our responsibility to do something about it. When God commanded Adam not to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was showing him what choice he should make. God wanted him to choose life, not death. God gave us a similar choice: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Viktor Frankl in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” describes the reactions of two brothers with the same heredity, the same environment, in the same concentration camp under the Nazis. One became a saint and the other a swine. Frankl tells us the reason why. He said, “Each man has within him the power to choose how he will react to any given situation.” The greatest mistake that people make is they make decisions without the counsel of God.
Proverbs 2:6 says “For the Lord Gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” And the writer of Proverbs over and over warns us about depending upon man's wisdom rather than seeking God's wisdom when making decisions. Proverbs 28:26 “Those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe...” Proverbs 28:26 says "He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." Proverbs 12:15 says “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” Proverbs 11:14 says “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is victory.”
There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days. There may be times we make choices that cause our path to become tough, confusing and uncertain. Our path seems like a series of hills and valleys, there is never any balance. When this happens, we should stop and examine the choices we made that have taken us down this path. We should evaluate those choices and identify alternatives or new choices that will bring us back to our true path-the one we originally created. Once again we shape our lives by the choices we make. Billy Graham said "If you don’t make a decision, then time will make it for you, and time will always side against you."
