I recently went for an eye exam. As I sat there while the doctor says, “Which is better 1 or 2, 1 or 2.” Finally we reached the end and he tells me, “Well Mr. Ballard, you could get glasses if you wanted and here is the difference.” He then has me look through the phoropter (that’s what the contraption it’s called that you look through). He shows me the difference between the prescription and seeing without a prescription and I could not tell the difference. So I opted to not get glasses. I mean why would I? The thing is when you go for these eye exams there are so many options. All the way from the prescription to the frames, to how you want your lenses made. It’s ridiculous how many options there are. I’ve often heard the phrase, “I didn’t even know that was an option.” That’s because sometimes we don’t know that options are present.
You ever wondered why people go through trials and they last so long that these people quit. They walk away because they just couldn’t take it any longer. If you haven’t, I have. I wondered, why God didn’t just stop the trial short of them quitting. I mean He’s all knowing so He knew they were at that point. He knew where their breaking point was. So why didn’t He just stop it before they quit? Well the answer is that quitting was an option for them. You see they may not have even known it, but they had a plan B in their back pocket. God often has to get us to the point where we realize that we had somewhere in our hearts another option. It’s when we reach this point that we have a decision to make. Do we throw away our other options and wholeheartedly follow Jesus or do we keep our option stored in our back pocket just in case we need it?
In John 6 Jesus had said some things that caused some of His disciples to realize that they had an option in their pockets. Because it says in John 6:66 KJV From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. These were not just random people walking around listening to Jesus. No, these were disciples, they faithfully had followed Jesus up until this point. What about the other disciples? Well it says, John 6:67-69 KJV 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. You see, to these disciples there was no other option. Jesus was their only option, there was no walking away, this was it. There are many characters throughout the Bible that reached this point somewhere in their lives. It may not be recorded, but they didn’t quit. Joseph, David, the 3 Hebrew Boys, Bartimaeus and so on. There was no other option for them. We are all going to come to a point where we realize that we have stored an option somewhere. When we reach that point we have to decide is Jesus our only option?
John 14:6 NET Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.