![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/defiant.jpg\")
Rather a bold, confrontational, in-your-face kind of statement isn’t it? Generally, it is made by individuals who try to defend their lifestyle when it is called into question.<\/p>\nRather a bold, confrontational, in-your-face kind of statement isn’t it? Generally, it is made by individuals who try to defend their lifestyle when it is called into question.<\/p>\n
However, the concept of the statement is a biblical one. Consider with me the statement found in Psalms 119:109, “My life is continually in my hand, yet, I will not forget thy law.<\/em>” The inspired writer points out a truism of life. An individual, unless intellectually impaired by disease, accident, or birth defect, has total control over the course of life he chooses to take.<\/p>\n Notice the writer says that it is continually <\/b>in our hands or control. The word “continually” is defined by W. E. Vine as “Always, continually, regularly”. There are no exceptions. Consequently, it takes all excuses away for bad behavior. It is not the parents’ fault, siblings’ fault, friends’ fault, teachers’ fault, church’s fault, etc. It means we are not a victim when we exhibit bad behavior.<\/p>\n In Job 14:1, we are told “Man that is born of woman is short lived and full of problems.<\/em>” Everyone has problems; even Jesus. In Ecclesiastes 9:22, we are told: “…time and chance<\/em>” happen to all men. The best qualified does not always win, the righteous are not always treated fairly, and the unrighteous sometimes get what they don’t deserve. Life is not fair, Satan will see to that.<\/p>\n In the 73rd Psalm, Asaph said that as he pondered the unfairness of life it troubled his mind to the point of discouragement. He said he almost turned his back upon God until he came to the realization that both the righteous and the unrighteous are going to die. He realized it was at death that God would resolve the matter. It was at death the righteous would enter into eternity with God and the unrighteous would enter eternity without God.<\/p>\n God has never promised His children a life free from problems. He has, however, promised us how to deal with any problem we face in life. Peter reveals to us in II Peter 1:3, that in the word of God, we “…have all things that pertain to life and godliness.<\/em>” God gives us direction to deal with life. God allows Satan to bring difficulties into our lives to see how genuine our faith and love for Him really is – “By their fruits, ye shall know them<\/em>” (Matthew 7:20). But with every difficulty that we face in life, God will provide a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13).<\/p>\n We will all face God on the day of judgment (II Corinthians 5:10). It is at that time our eternal destiny will be determined by whether or not we remember and apply God’s law to our life while in the flesh.<\/p>\n Yes, it is our life and it is our decision how we choose to live it. The question we must deal with is this, “Did I choose to live my life according to the will of God.” Our choice regarding this question will determine our eternal destiny. It is our choice and we will have to live with it for eternity.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dick Millwee Rather a bold, confrontational, in-your-face kind of statement isn’t it? Generally, it is made by individuals who try to defend their lifestyle when it is called into question. However, the concept of the statement is a biblical one. Consider with me the statement found in Psalms 119:109, “My life is continually in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[634,426,58],"class_list":["post-57620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-attitude","tag-free-will","tag-once-saved-always-saved"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-sins-rolled-forward-under-the-old-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":0},"title":"Were sins rolled forward under the Old Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In a Wednesday night lesson recently, our minister stated that under the Old Law sins were not rolled back when sacrifices were made. He said there was no Scripture that says that and that it has just been repeated until people think that. He said since God knew from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-jesus-blood-continually-cleanse-us-from-all-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":1},"title":"Does Jesus’ blood continually cleanse us from all sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible says we will give an account of our life and sin, but God washes away our sins at baptism and the blood of Christ continually cleanses. He forgives us and remembers no more, so is there judgment where our sin is remembered, or are we as white\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6728,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-lords-supper-useless-if-we-are-saved-before-partaking-of-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":2},"title":"Is the Lord’s Supper useless if we are saved before partaking of it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we are saved before partaking the Lord's Supper then partaking of the Lord's Supper is useless. Do you agree? a. If one has received the gift of the Holy Spirit, they have the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). b. Cornelius received the gift of the Holy Spirit in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31903,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-from-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":3},"title":"Lessons from the Old Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leland R. Ping Sentry Magazine, June 2002 Paul wrote to the church at Rome in Romans 15:4 that \"whatever things were written before were written for our learning.\" In a simple statement like this, the persecutor-turned-apostle explained the reason for the Old Testament. In light of a statement like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93483,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/crucified-but-lives\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":4},"title":"Crucified But Lives","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong \"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":57620,"position":5},"title":"Our Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry \"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}