By Van Yandell
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
We seem to be hearing a lot about making decisions and choices. Basically, those are one and the same. At times they can be changed and at times they cannot. A decision could be concerning what to believe while a choice might entail a course of action.
Our decisions and the choices we make pattern our lives. Where you or I stand at this particular point in time has been pre-determined by choices we made many years ago.
At times, those choices are obvious and other times the pathway seems unclear in either circumstance. Those are the difficult ones. Regardless of the clarity of the situation we may be facing, we are all faced with decision making.
I have an acquaintance that has used the phrase, “It’s the cleanest shirt in the dirty shirt pile.” Essentially, what he is saying there is, “There’s no absolute clear choice, none of the choices are perfect, so which of those will do us the least damage?” The concept could compared to choosing the lesser of two evils.
One example many of us have dealt with in the last few years concerns our political affiliation. Do our minds work mostly with the liberal or with the conservative agenda? For many, we are split because we favor a few points of each. This factor in itself gives us a rational of the “Cleanest shirt in the dirty shirt pile.”
Another example, now in the past, is whether to get the COVID vaccine or would it be best not to get the shot? We’ve heard the stories of those that had inoculations still becoming sick with COVID. Then again, there are those that did not even sustain a slight fever from the shot and all was well.
This may have depended upon one’s body chemistry, ancestry and or genetic disposition. Once again is the vaccine the cleanest shirt in the dirty shirt pile? It is not my place to tell anyone to be vaccinated or not. That is every person’s individual choice for whatever reason.
The COVID-19 virus and the variants have left most of us with a decision making dilemma we probably never had to face before in our entire lives.
Decisions are difficult simply because there are so many unanswered questions concerning most subjects and those answered are simply someone’s opinion. If we could, or had the ability to make a list of what we do not know, it would greatly surpass the list of what we do know.
Another decision of extreme importance in our lives is what do we believe about God, Jesus and the Bible? I can only state this from my own personal point of view. Concerning God the Creator, I really haven’t heard any other reasonable explanation for why we exist. A Creator is the only acceptable answer.
For anyone to believe this planet, galaxy or universe in which we live just happened by accident is preposterous in my mind. The perfect balance of the gravitational fields that hold us in place, the perfect balance of the days and seasons leave no question in my mind, there had to be an intelligent design. That intellect would be found only in a supernatural being containing all power and knowledge.
Normally, I am not a superstitious person, but the evidence for a creator far outweighs the opposite. Or for those that prefer to employ a case of logic, the same answer comes forth. There is no other logical explanation for why we exist except by a Creator.
If we evolved from an ape, where did the first ape come from? If the “Big Bang” 13.7 billion years ago was the beginning of the universe, where did the matter come from that exploded? Where are the intermediate fossils of the stages of evolution?
The balance of nature in plant growth, cycling and the production of food for His creations is evidence in itself. These bodies in which we reside contain two perfectly balanced plumbing systems; a cardiovascular and a digestive system. Our bodies also contain a complex electrical system called the central nervous system. The list of growth and regeneration could go on for volumes but the point is, God is the only answer.
A belief in the Holy Bible as being the true and revealed word of our creator is substantiated by continuous evidence in the natural world. Prophesy contained in its volumes has, in many cases, already happened or is happening right now. A policeman friend has said to me numerous times, “always follow the evidence.” The evidence is overwhelming for the reality and validity of the Bible.
It is extremely difficult for many of us to wrap our minds around a supernatural god. We live in a physical body, in a physical world. God gave us a belief system called faith (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is believing in something we cannot prove.
How much evidence does it take to make a solid argument and establish proof? That exists only in the mind of the beholder. Between the verified and witnessed prophesy and the factual information in the Bible such as science and other information that men could not have known 2,000 to 4,000 years ago, there is convincing evidence to the discerning and analytical mind.
My only statement to be made to the disbeliever is, examine the evidence and be fair and reasonable in making a decision concerning what you believe.
In the dirty shirt pile of choices concerning what to believe, there is no dirty shirt. The shirt of choice is our perfect Savior, Christ Jesus.
The scriptures teach the reality of a spiritual realm and eternal life. The unequivocal truth in having eternal life is a faith based belief in Christ Jesus crucified for the remission of sin and resurrected.
Once again, there is no dirty shirt in this pile. The simplistic truth, based on extensive evidence is, this man Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:14). He voluntarily went to the cross of Calvary and offered Himself up as a living sacrifice for the sins of all mankind (Matthew 28:35).
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and missionary, from Fredonia, Kentucky.
