How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.
—1 Kings 18:21
In Old Testament times, the prophet Elijah stood before the whole nation of Israel on Mount Carmel and put a question to them that still hangs in the air today. God’s people had wandered. They believed in the one true God, yet the surrounding culture, with its idols and especially its worship of Baal, had captivated them. They wanted both. And Elijah would not let them have both.
“How long will you falter between two opinions?” he thundered. “If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” And then comes one of the saddest lines in all of Scripture: “But the people answered him not a word.” They had no answer, because they didn’t want to choose. They wanted to keep one foot in each world.
That same question is true for so many of God’s children today. Too many of us are crippled in life because we won’t decide whether we’re in or out when it comes to Jesus Christ. We’ve let our peers and the pressures of culture distract us, and rather than living full out for Christ, we hobble ourselves by granting Him only a secondary, or worse, an uncertain position.
I know Christians who hesitate to even mention their faith around friends or coworkers, and I’m not talking about evangelism or bold witnessing. I’m talking about people who won’t so much as identify themselves as Christians, because they don’t want to be called a Jesus freak or an extremist or any of the other labels you can earn for living openly for Christ.
These folks fold like an accordion under social pressure. And the reason is simple: Jesus isn’t first in their lives. Because here’s a truth you can count on, when something is genuinely first in your life, you can’t help but think about it and talk about it. Just fill in the blank: when people think about you, the first thing that comes to mind is _______. Whatever fills that blank is what’s really first.
Now I know many Christians who are faithful, and I don’t mean in a harsh or judgmental or pious way. I mean people who live in a positive, loving, authentic, Jesus-first way. Their families know it, their friends know it, their coworkers know it. Christ rules their lives, and it is powerful and beautiful to be around. Don’t you love being near that kind of Christian? I do.
That’s the authentic, substantive, vibrant, contagious Christianity God is calling us to. And the only thing standing between most of us and that kind of life is the refusal to decide, the faltering between two opinions that leaves us limping along, satisfying no one, least of all ourselves.
So how long will you hesitate before either making Jesus supreme in your life or being honest that you haven’t? Don’t wait. Choose today. Stop faltering between two opinions and start living a life of purpose by seeking first the kingdom of God.
STOP FALTERING BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS. DECIDE TODAY WHETHER YOU’RE IN OR OUT AND MAKE JESUS SUPREME IN ALL OF YOUR LIFE.
