Our Choice

"Jesus went out to the mountain to pray..." Luke 6:12

Jesus continued to pray all night, all alone up in the mountain. Then when it was daytime, He called His disciples and chose twelve, whom He named His apostles or His special messengers. He chose Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James. Oh yes, he also chose Judas Iscariot who treacherously betrayed Him. How could Jesus choose Judas after praying the whole night?!!! 

I think it could have been any one of the apostles who turned Jesus over. Simon betrayed Jesus by denying Him three times but he regretted it bitterly. He wept knowing what He had done. Jesus could see his heart and asked Simon three times if he loved Him. When Simon said, "You know that I love you," Jesus asked him to feed His sheep. 

Jesus prays for each one of us.  "He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, because He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Now, there is no time or space for Jesus, so we can depend on Him being our mediator all the time. It is our choice, just as it was Judas Iscariot's choice not to follow Him. It is our choice, just as it was Simon Peter's choice to follow Him.