Mark 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Our Lord Jesus looked after the rich young ruler as he walked away, but He did not follow him or attempt to coerce him.
The dignity of the young man's humanity forbade that his choices should be made for him by another.
To remain a man he must make his own moral choices; and Christ knew this and permitted him to go his own chosen way.
If his human choice took him at last to hell, at least he went there a man..
And it is better for the moral universe that he should do so than that he should be jockeyed to a heaven he did not choose, a soulless, will-less automation.
God will take nine steps toward us, but He will not take the tenth.
He will incline us to repent, but He cannot do our repenting for us.
It is of the essence of repentance that it can only be done by the one who committed the act to be repented of.
God can wait on the sinning man...
He can withhold judgment...
He can exercise long-suffering to the point where He appears "lax" in His judicial administration...
But He cannot force a man to repent.
To do this would be to violate the man's freedom and void the gift God originally bestowed upon him.
Where there is no freedom of choice there can be neither sin nor righteousness, because it is of the nature of both that they be voluntary.
However good an act may be, it is not good if it is imposed from without.
The act of imposition destroys the moral content of the act and renders it null and void.
~A. W. Tozer
Moving, isn't it...
Jesus loved the young man who sadly went away.
That rich young ruler made his choice as we make ours.
Others cannot choose for us or repent for us.
We are personally responsible for our choices.
O God, so important are the choices before me.
You have given me personal responsibility of choice.
Thank You for the revelation of Your will to guide me and the presence of Your Spirit to enable me!
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