THE VALLEY OF DECISION by Richard Crocker

“Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near. (Joel 3:14).”

Today multitudes are not knowing, not discerning that their eternal fate hangs in the balance.

Eternal judgment and punishment. These matters you should be aware of. Eternal destinies. Eternal separation from Christ if you reject Him. In this world so many pressures, so many things to preoccupy, things and more things – to buy, fix, store. Chasing rainbows. Pleasures. Drinking, smoking, eating. Stressed out.

Emptiness. Empty relationships. Phony put-ons and masks. But in the quietness you hate to face up to the inner void. You tried so hard to satisfy this void. The lights, the glitter, the noise – their end is bitterness.

Jesus created you. You were made for Him. For a special relationship with Him. He came to live by His Spirit in your heart. He lives to satisfy you. All old things pass away and all things become new when you accept Jesus.

For some it is a sordid past, so mixed up, messed up, hopeless and joyless. Yet Jesus is The Door through which, when you enter, the old is left behind and the new begins. Hopelessness gives way to hope. Humpty Dumpty’s life was broken and couldn’t be put back together again. But not so with your life. Amazingly, Jesus can make you new. Not just repaired, but new. He renews the broken crushed spirit.

A Door stands between you and a glorious new beginning. On one side death; on the other is life. On one side guilt and shame; on the other forgiveness and release. On one side hurts, grudges and anger, so many things going wrong; on the other side Jesus and His host of angels at your service. On one side darkness, the eyes of your understanding darkened through unbelief; on the other glorious light.

God said, “Let there be light…And He called the light day (Genesis 1:3,5).” He still speaks light to darkened hearts. God’s provision is for all and has paid for all. In Christ’s name be saved! Be redeemed! Accept the provision which God provided for you. Why would you choose death? Because of stubbornness? Too preoccupied? Unbelief?

I must remind you that “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).” You must be born again. Jesus is The Door out of the old life into the new. Your destiny is determined by yourself and none other, upon whether you accept or reject Jesus. Where will you spend your eternity? Will yours be an eternity of remorse with satan and his demons? Or an eternity of joy with Jesus in a place beyond your wildest hopes?

Eternity is forever. It is real. Heaven is forever. It is real. Judgment is coming. And it is real. A time and place is set for every man, woman and child to give an account before God. The Supreme Court of our land is not the highest court. The injustices of life will be dealt with.

Death is the shepherd of all mankind. Harvest time is passing. Are you saved? Strange how life’s most relevant issue is ignored, pushed aside. Your eternal destiny is very personal and it should be. But I must provoke you to face it in a quiet hour. Ask God yourself, in the name of Jesus, to reveal Himself to you. After all, it was Jesus who said that He came “to seek and to save those that are lost.” And Jesus declared that if anyone would call upon His name He would never reject him. If you called upon Him, if you asked Him to reveal Himself to you, you would know whether the things that Jesus said were truth. Prove Jesus.

He stands knocking at your heart’s door. He did everything for you. All He went through was for you. Religion, no! Religion is stuffy, misleading, hard, full of rules, form without substance. But Jesus is life. Jesus said, “The words I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

The battle to choose or reject Christ is really the battle between the flesh and the spirit. The spirit, that’s what God came to make alive in you. It is that part of you that cries after God. That void that hungers to be filled. Choose life! Choose Christ!…and see for yourself.

God is for you; satan is against you. One liberates and sets free; the other blinds and binds. There really is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.

Jesus specializes in taking broken ones, hurting ones, and turning them into trophies of His grace. Will you be one of those trophies?