By Larry Young
There’s an old axiom: “Nature Abhors a Vacuum”. It’s certainly true in the world of physics, but it’s also true in how we make life’s choices: we come to a “Y” in the road…so then which road will we take? One example is the results of buying a lottery ticket…or not. Over 50% of big lottery winners get sucked into a financial vacuum that consumes everything they won in less than five years, leaving them in bankruptcy, personal ruin, and destroyed relationships. (source: Hankins, Hoekstra & Skiba). The only real winner was the devil.
The beginning of each story starts out at the same “Y” in the road. If we choose to follow God’s purpose for us, in a sense, God displaces our “vacuum” and He fills us with Himself. If we choose not to follow God’s purpose for us, that also creates a “vacuum” that will be filled with something else, and there’s a devil who is waiting eagerly for us to fill that “vacuum” with his purpose for us.
Many don’t realize that there’s really only one “Y” with just two roads to choose from. God has a purpose and a plan for every person. Because all have been given God’s gift of free will, we can discourage or thwart God’s plans, or we can encourage and embrace God’s plans. Can we switch roads if we discover we’re on the wrong road? Absolutely! However, the Bible has strong warnings for those who think they can just switch back and forth like a revolving door or be double-minded… and then think there are no consequences. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6: 24).
How about those who put one foot on one road, and put their other foot on the other road? I have had close friends point to Jesus’ cross and the criminal on the cross next to Christ (who chose to follow Jesus at the last moment) and Jesus then told that man he was saved in His kingdom. If that was such a great plan, why didn’t the other criminal on the other cross not choose to follow Jesus?... that man had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It’s deceptive to believe that a person can easily or truly change sides at the last moment.
Look at the parable of Lazarus. The rich man in that parable asked Abraham to send someone from the dead to his brothers and let them know the outcome of choosing the wrong road at the “Y”. What did Abraham answer?: “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16: 31).
For instance, if a political party isn’t guided by God’s purposes, is it any real surprise if Marxism and communism can then rush in to fill the resulting “vacuum”? While capitalism has its flaws, Marxism and communism are political systems that are intentionally adversarial toward God.
When God is removed from our schools and institutions, something else rushes in to take God’s place, and right now our nation is openly reaping those generational results. Just 10 years ago, if someone had told me back then what is happening now, I would have branded them as totally out of their minds or crazy. Instead, our country is fulfilling end times biblical warnings and prophecies at an astonishing rate. If God allows all this to continue unpunished much longer, He might have to apologize for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
Nature abhors a vacuum. While the gate is still open, select God’s road at the “Y” now…and ask God the Father, God the Son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit every day and every hour to keep you on that safe narrow road to be with the Lord both now and for eternity. Amen.