Christianity is one of the things we can never be successful at without commitment.
Half measures will leave us miserable.
Like straddling a fence, we’ll never really be comfortable.
Constantly shifting from side to side, never ‘in it all the way’ on either one.

Like the old saying,

too much of Jesus to be happy in the world
and too much of the world to be happy in Jesus

 

If you’re on the fence I’d like to ask you a few questions.
What fear keeps you from jumping down on God’s side?
What sliver of hope keeps you from sliding off onto the world’s side?

I know what it’s like to sit on the fence.
I did it for a few years and they were the worst years of my life.
I made stupid selfish decisions that grieved God and hurt others I love.

I had walked with Jesus for almost 12 years, then I climbed onto that fence.
I believed a lie, and it eroded my faith.
You can’t believe how fast it can happen.
Confusion sets in clouding your thinking and muddling your decision-making process.

During a prolonged trial I accepted the ‘suggestion’ that God’s plan was not the best one for me.
He wasn’t going to be able to work in my situation.  I’d have to take things into my own hands.

I didn’t quit believing in God, but I quit believing in His love for me.
I doubted His power to change my circumstances, and I didn’t even consider asking for more strength to persevere through to the end.  I gave up too soon on God.  I let go too easily and with no anchor, I was adrift.

It was a test and I flunked.

But the day, and it happened in a single day, the day I jumped down solidly on God’s side, I was swept up into His arms.
Forgiveness I could almost feel enveloped me.
And that old familiar joy surged through my life again.

Thank God and praise Him it’s never happened again!
But I thought of it today.
I remembered what that estrangement felt like.

And if you’re there on that fence, in that no-man’s-land of partial commitment, I want to remind you that you decided to go there.
But you can decide to leave.
And return to the arms of God, the will of God, the life of Christ as He lives it through you.

 

Photo
https://www.flickr.com/x/t/0095009/photos/darronb/8421225999/