One of Two Options

“He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathers not with Me scatters abroad.”  Matthew 12:30

We’ve all heard the old saying, “There’s no straddling the fence” which means that one is either on one side or the other.  Some folks think that they can be neutral when it comes to spiritual matters.  I am reminded of a line in the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”.  The three escapees from a prison work detail had stolen a car and picked up a hitchhiker named Tommy Johnson.  They asked him why he was at that particular crossroads, and he replied that he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar really well.  Two of the escapees, Peter and Delmar, claimed that they had just been saved at a large gathering of folks who were being baptized in a nearby lake.  Delmar was upset that someone would sell their immortal soul to the devil.  The third escapee, Everett, who was the ringleader of the three, declared that their decisions had made him the only one who was “unaffiliated”.  In other words, he believed that he didn’t have to make a choice between God and the devil.

Of course, that was just a movie, but Everett was wrong about one thing: no one can be “unaffiliated”.  Jesus said that one who is not on His side is against Him, that is, the unbeliever is on the side of Satan.  There is no neutrality in the spiritual realm.  Jesus gave an illustration of one who tries to remain neutral when life calls for an up or down decision.  In Luke 11:24-26, an unclean spirit, a demon, is cast out of a man and goes in search of a new person to possess.  He can’t find one, so he returns to his former “home” to find it empty and superficially dressed up, but devoid of God’s Spirit.  Since nature abhors a vacuum, the demon thinks that he has found a gold mine and decides it is worth sharing with seven of his demon buddies who he gathers and brings back with him.  Thus, the man who had been temporarily freed from the one demon now has eight demons possessing him making him much worse off that he was before.  Had the man turned to the Lord, repented of his sins, and became a believer, these demons could not have taken up residence in his soul.

Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French mathematician and philosopher, wrote that every person has a God-shaped void within their soul that will either be filled with Christ or will be filled with the enemy of Christ.  Those are the only two options that every person has for life and death.  To ignore the truth of the word of God is to make the wrong choice.  What makes so many people neglect the most important need of all men and women?  I suppose the biggest hindrances to coming to Christ are pride, indifference, addictions, and a fear of commitment.  Pride says that I am my own person, I can take care of myself, and I don’t need some Higher Being that I have to bow down before because I am my own god.  Indifference says that I can take it or leave it; it doesn’t matter.  Addiction says that I am too attached to what interests me the most, be it drugs, alcohol, sex, fame, fortune, or power.  The fear of commitment says I am afraid that I won’t be able to stay committed, that I might not be able to carry out the tasks that I would be given, that I am too weak, or that I might fail.  Fear of failure keeps folks from stepping out and making the right decisions.

While we have these two options, either surrendering to Christ or surrendering to the devil, some folks try to do both.  In Joshua 24:15-16, he gave the people of Israel a choice.  They could either serve the gods of their enemies or they could serve the LORD, as Joshua and his family chose to worship.  The people agreed to serve the LORD, but their history shows us how they tried to serve both the LORD and the false gods, an exercise in futility which did not end well.  In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:24), He indicated how impossible it is for one to have a divided loyalty between two masters: “For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other; Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.  Here “mammon” refers to riches, but it also signifies anything that is not of God.  A divided loyalty only leads to confusion.  Christ did not come to make peace with the devil.  He came to destroy Satan’s kingdom and his unholy influence upon man.

Matthew Henry wrote indicating that following Christ is more than a half-hearted, mediocre endeavor:  “he that is not hearty (sincere) for Christ, will be reckoned with as really against Him: he that is cold in the cause, is looked upon as an enemy”.  Well, that hits the nail on the head!  One who does not help Christ in His cause is one who hinders Him and His cause.  To not abide in Christ is to be scattered about whichever way the wind blows, leaving one vulnerable to the enemy.  The choice is clear for any person who is sick of his or her sinful condition and who is not satisfied with the status-quo of a life lived for self: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).