Free Choice

Some of the native tribes among whom the missionary was working had been feuding with one another and had taken him captive. He was tied to a tree in the hot midday sun. He was on the verge of fainting when a native came walking along the lonely path.
“Water! Water!” came the faint cry from the missionary’s lips. With a cry of astonishment, the man rushed to him, fell on his knees, and held out the water container to him.

The missionary recognized him. He had often come to the mission station, but had always refused to accept Jesus as his personal Savior. “I don’t see why I should submit to this carpenter’s son,” was his reply. Now the missionary behaved quite strangely slowly turning his head away and refusing the water.

“No, first untie my hands and feet.” The man hurriedly complied with this request. But he still refused the water. He rubbed his stiff joints and watched the man from the side. The native looked at the missionary in astonishment. The words came with difficulty from his swollen and cracked lips; his whole body seemed to be parched but he did not accept the water.

“Perhaps,” the man thought, “the missionary doesn’t trust my water.” With a smile, he raised the water container to his lips, took a few hearty swigs from it, and then handed it to the man who was dying of thirst. But the missionary set the container down on the ground beside him. “Should I take the water or not—?” He spoke as if to himself and sat down beside it, as if to think it over.

“Missionary, my friend, you’re dying of thirst! Why won’t you drink my water? It’s good water! I drank some myself. Why are you waiting? Has the heat made you lose your mind?”

Finally, the missionary firmly took the water container in both hands and said, “Yes, I will drink the water!” He drank the refreshing water in deep gulps.

Minutes passed. Then the native spoke again: “Sir, I know you are a wise man, I have heard you speak many times but your actions today are a mystery to me. Was the heat so intense that you no longer knew what you were doing? Or did you think I was one of those who had captured you and treated you badly? Why didn’t you accept my water? Why?”

The missionary had been waiting for this very moment. “My friend, for quite some time now you’ve been wondering about this man—Jesus. You’ve asked questions about Him, but you haven’t accepted the salvation He offers. When I was tied up, you could have forced the water into my mouth against my will. But when I was free and able to drink, I had the choice of whether to drink or not.”

The native jumped to his feet in excitement. “But wasn’t it foolish of you to refuse the water, whether you were tied up or not?”

“Of course,” replied the missionary, “it would have been foolish of me to refuse the best remedy in the world for thirst. But to refuse the water when I was free to drink it would be even more foolish.

“Now, what about the person living in sin who needs peace for his soul? Who one who needs a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a true purpose for his life? What about him?

“God could have arranged things so that you had no choice but to accept salvation once you had sinned. He could have forced Jesus Christ upon us, just as you could have forced the water upon me while I was tied up. But that is not God’s way. He sent Christ, the only answer to the world’s sin: God’s sacrifice through His death.

“If you had forced the water upon me and it had been poisoned, you would have been responsible. But when I took it of my own free will, I accepted the responsibility myself. God knew what the world needed, but He left it up to our free will to accept it.”

“But how foolish people are to reject Christ,” the man exclaimed before he had time to think about what he was saying. “If Christ is the only answer to sin, just as water is the answer to thirst, then people are fools to reject him.”

The missionary smiled. “Now you understand what I was trying to show you. You thought I was foolish when I refused the drink. But I wanted to show you that I accepted it willingly. I did what was best—I took it of my own free choice.”

“Do you want to accept Jesus’ response to your sin?” The man fell to his knees and repented of his sin, and of having rejected the Lord’s offer for so long.

As they continued on their way back to the village, the missionary said, “You see, my friend, freedom brings responsibility. When a person is living in sin, the pure life of a Christian can be very appealing. Yet, just as you hesitated, people often act foolishly when faced with a real spiritual decision. They reject God’s only answer to sin. And to others, this refusal appears just as foolish as my rejection of the refreshing water.

“We are poor guides of our own lives. When we take control of the direction of our lives ourselves, we often act very foolishly. Our actions are influenced by our feelings, emotions, and changing moods. God has the one true answer to the problems of humanity. And God is so wise, just, and impartial toward us that He has given us free will, no matter how foolishly we may choose to use it.”

The man was silent for a while. Then he said, “You wanted to show me this months ago. I’m so sorry today that you had to suffer so much before I could understand and accept Christ.”

“It’s all right,” said the missionary, “I am only one of the great multitude who gladly suffered for Christ’s sake so that others might see the light. Our Lord and Master went before us—He suffered first.”

Dan Harman