And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. – 1 Kings 18:21 ESV
This morning I read this very famous and familiar verse. It hit me right between the eyes as the Scripture often does when I need it most.
Something that we are guilty of as Christians is our lack of commitment. We don’t overtly forsake God and dive headlong unabashedly into open sin, but we also don’t forsake all, take up our cross and follow Christ as we are required to do to be true disciples. We think that by straddling the line between full on rebellion and sold out service to Christ, that we are somehow appeasing God and our flesh at the same time. That is how I can justify singing praises in Church, and then sharing in innuendo among friends. That is why I (and many other Christians) have struggled with pornography addiction for most of my life, while maintaining the appearance of being an upstanding young man.
We are limping through life, pledging allegiance to two kingdoms, and in the process not experiencing true joy and satisfaction. I have faced this for far too long. Knowing that God has overcome sin and death, and yet I still cling to the old man like some real-life Weekend at Bernie’s scenario.
It’s time to take a stand. It’s time to man up and make a decision about who we are going to serve. If addiction and self are your gods, and are giving you everything that God is offering and more, then choose them. And be proud of it. Don’t hide in the shadows secretly loving your sin and lying to everyone around you. You made a decision to serve other gods, OWN IT!
But deep down, you know the truth. You (and I) know that these sins DO NOT satisfy. That is why we keep coming to them again and again, hoping this time will be different. But it never is. It’s always the same. So why not go all-in for Jesus? The energy we spend trying to maintain our secret lives of sin, why not exert that energy in a life of complete devotion to God? It seems impossible, but everything that you have not tried seems daunting. We have not lived this kind of life before. We have always limped between both lives. The old and the new. The flesh and the spirit. The gods of this world and THE GOD of the Universe.
It’s time to make a choice. Which god is truly God and whom will you serve?
Will you pursue God with the same vigor with which you have pursued the false gods of pleasure and self-worship? I hope you will, because God has faithfully remained close to you even when you have repeatedly run from Him. All you have to do is return to Him and He will make Himself known to you. When you are stubborn, He will wrestle with you. He will help you in time to renounce your allegiance to the kingdom of this world, and set up His kingdom in your heart. He will change you from Jacob {supplanter}, into Israel {governed by God}.
There may be scars from the past, and you may be left with a limp, but it’s better to be limping after God than limping between two opinions.
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – Joshua 24:15