Out Came This Calf

Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf! (Ex 32:24b)

We like to pretend there is a certain inevitability to our sin. But sin is always a choice. It is comforting in the face of our guilt to think that the laws of nature took over and we were just innocent bystanders. But if we look back at the sequence of events leading up to our sin we will always find a moment of decision. There was a fork in the road and I took the wrong path. After that moment there may have been a sense of inevitability, a feeling of being carried along by forces I could not control. But before that moment I had a choice. I could have walked away. That moment of choice, that way of escape, is always available according to the promises of God (I Cor 10:13). If we look for it we will find it. We have the power to choose because we have the Spirit of God living in our hearts.

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:24-25)