Denial and Fence-Sitting

Almost every argument I've heard against Christianity is rooted in one a couple of words: Don't, Want, Won't, Can't -

• I don't want to believe in a God who **fill in the blank**
• I won't follow a God who doesn't tolerate **fill in the blank**
• I don't want to give up **fill in the blank**
• I can't imagine there being only one way/one path, etc.

When I talk to some of my friends and relatives about salvation, they don't outright object to the idea of following Jesus, but they don't make a choice.

I think most objections to following Christ come down to people not wanting to make a definitive choice. (There's that word again...) Or they don't want to submit.

For a lot of people, I wonder if the problem isn't just that they have a sense of immortality. In a way, I get that.

Some of us never think about death as a real thing for us. We read about another person dying and can never imagine that it could have been us. Or we imagine it just long enough to run away from the thought. Because that's scary right?

Even as a Christian, when I lose a loved one, I can't fathom death. I can't fathom the definite end of that human life. That idea of everything that a person was just not being.

Death is huge. It's the end of all choices and opinions and the end of self. And while we are alive, we are all about self, aren't we? 

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. (Luke 9:23-24)

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And that is, I think, the biggest problem for the people I personally know. 

Before I put my opinions on other people, let me look at myself.

In my human nature, or my flesh, I am a basically selfish person. While I can be generous to a fault, that's a conditional thing for me. I'm generous if I am in the mood, if I feel sorry or worried for someone, and so on. There are lots of 'Ifs' to my personality.

When I look at those verses in Luke, I find the hardest words for some of us are 'deny' and 'follow'. We don't live in a world or social culture that encourages denying ourselves anything. And we are taught from the first days in school to be leaders, right? 

If I have anything to say about people I personally know, I will include them in with myself when I comment on the inability to deny themselves and follow anyone - let alone Jesus. 

• Some of us can deny ourselves food long enough to fast
• We struggle with denying ourselves our entertainment long enough to pray
• We don't follow/listen to our elders, spouses, advising friends
• We don't like to follow/obey bosses on a job
• We don't deny ourselves pleasures to sacrifice for our kids and parents

There are certain words that human find hard to digest from the time we understand language: 

• Obey
• Submit
• No

So many of us have a self-royal, self-important attitude about being in control of things. We think that work, family, friends, love, caring, happiness, giving, and all life should revolve around us. It's as though we think of ourselves as the center of some universe where everything is about and for us.

Us. I. Me. 

Now, I do know people who are very generous and caring and loving and unselfish to a great degree. The problem with that is, they think that this is enough. 

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Being a good person is enough for some things. A good person will probably have a nice obituary written up when they die. A good person will probably be remembered and talked about in a favorable, loving way when they die. 

The thing is though, when that good person dies, they are just as dead as the less-loved person. Then what?

We never want to think about the "then what" part, do we? But that is the part that counts most. It's the eternal part.

One of my friends is such a good and decent person. I really cannot think of one bad thing to say about her - and I have known her for many years. She is a truly 'good' person, but she has never confessed a belief in Jesus Christ. Over the years, she has told me that she believes in "a higher power", "something bigger than all of us", and the like.

I have known quite a few people like this. They believe in something, but they won't name it. I don't know if they have a name for whatever it is they believe in. 

This is heartbreaking for me because, whenever I have this kind of conversation with one of these friends, I think of this from Revelation 3:16:

(source)

So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.

I believe this verse is about those claiming to be Christians, but I always think of it as applying to anyone who won't choose. (I'm going to have to go back and check my study Bible and a commentary on this verse. This is why I need to join a Bible study group!)

The verse does make me re-evaluate my own stand in my faith. I can sometimes be 'lukewarm' when talking with people about my faith. I know that I need to be bolder - not about making them believe, but about asserting and not being ashamed of my own beliefs.

Here's the thing: we are all going to face God one day. We are going to face Him having made our choice. No matter which choice any of us make, it's important enough to think about before we die.

Are you brave enough to choose to say -without any doubt - that,

• that there is no God? or
• that God is? or
• that that god you believe in has nothing to do with Jesus? 

And are you brave enough - sure enough - to live (and die) by your choice?

If you aren't willing to make a choice, that is also a choice. Are you willing to die with that choice?

I suppose there are many Christians who are willing to choose Jesus and to die with that choice. I always examine myself to see if I am living that choice. 

I've made my choice. I believe that there is only one way to God and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm willing to die with that choice, and I'm living by that choice. 

Peace

--Free