Choose Your Side

I had the pleasure of listening to Clinton Faupel this weekend at a youth retreat. He has this way of  making you look deep within yourself to find the things that hold you back from having a profound relationship with Christ.
I wanted to share a little bit of what he challenged us with. It comes from Matthew 25:31-34.

"When the Son of Man in His glory with all of His angels, He will sit on His royal throne. The people of all nations will be brought before Him and He will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'My Father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created.'"

Wisdom from a fable: Aesop once wrote a fable about a great war between the birds and the mammals. The bat wanted to appear to be on both sides so that he could benefit from everything each side controlled. When he was captured by the eagles and condors the bat claimed to be a bird, because he had wings and could fly. when he was captured by tigers and wolves, the bat claimed to be a mammal, because he had teeth and fur. In the end, however, his duplicity was uncovered, and he was hunted by both groups and killed. 

"You are deceitful and disloyal. So you will pay for your sin," Hosea 10:2

Pretty deep stuff there. We can try to claim we're part of both sides of the fence, but when it comes down to the end, we had better be certain and stand strong on only one side!

Who are we fooling when we try to play with both sides? There are so many people who play at being followers of Jesus. They attend church services fairly regularly, take part in activities at church, show up at Bible study every so often and even claim to pray for those who are suffering. They like the "image" of being "decent and good." At the same time, however, they'll dress immodestly, use off color language, listen to offensive music and watch sexually explicit movies. We just can't have it both ways! But, like the bat in Aesop's fable, they aren't fooling anyone.

Taking a stand: Joshua proclaimed, "My family and I are going to worship and obey the LORD!" (Joshua 24:15). The Bible tells us that the same spring cannot produce fresh water and saltwater. You have to make a total commitment or you've made no commitment at all.

Are you two-faced and deceitful? or are you a walking example of what it is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ? 

Make your choice and take your stand!