On my drive to work every morning, I pass a billboard advertising the fact that doctors in a local hospital have performed over a thousand open heart surgeries. Living three hours away from a major city with all the benefits of modern health care makes this important news for our small town. At the bottom of the billboard are the words, “Choose well.” Never was better advice ever given in two words than “Choose well.”
Choose well ... it is important to do when it comes to physical care of the heart, but even more important when it comes to the spiritual side of things. When it comes to spiritual care of the heart, I am sure you want only the best care, which means you had better choose well and choose the Lord Jesus Christ. On every level you need to trust Him for the care of your heart.
The Lord Jesus Christ alone has the cure for the universal heart condition that afflicts mankind. Nearly two thousand years ago the eternal God in the person of the Lord Jesus became a man. For thirty years He lived in obscurity. He never had wealth. He never studied at a university. He worked with His hands as a carpenter. Then for three and a half years, He was occupied with His public ministry, a ministry which would shake the world. He healed the sick, made the lame to walk, gave sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. He had plenty of enemies who never tried to deny the miracles He did. If there had been any chance of being refuted, they certainly would have tried in order to discredit Him. With words of incredible power He preached the gospel. The poor heard Him gladly. His teachings, even to this day, are recognized as the greatest moral teachings ever to exist. But the main reason for His coming to earth never changed or altered. His main purpose was to come to earth to die for His creature’s sin. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” This is the cure, pure and simple; when a sinner believes in Christ, the sins he has committed are put away, and he is made fit for heaven. Do you want your sins put away? Then choose well, and choose Christ, for it is only in Him that you may find redemption. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)).
Sin is a very constricting heart disease, which ever shrinks the muscles of the heart. If left unattended, it will shut out all the influence of God’s grace and make man the center of his own universe, and that is a very small and shriveling universe indeed. Eventually it leads to death and perpetual alienation from God’s goodness in a place called hell.
The Lord Jesus alone is the great physician, and He has truthfully revealed the serious heart condition of the human race, and then He delivered a powerful remedy. It is up to us to choose well and believe on Him and take advantage of the remedy. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)).
Won’t you choose well and choose the Lord Jesus, the Great Physician, to deal with your heart condition of sin? I want my heart in no other hands, and I am sure, if you consider the matter carefully, you will want your heart in no other hands as well. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).