No More In Between

       Many would like to walk a line between following Jesus and following the world. They want to have it both ways, they want the 'perks' of being a Christian and having a relationship with God and they want to be able to go out and live as the world does too. They don't want to seem different or like a misfit, they want to blend in, and keep doing the things that everyone else is and keep following what the world says is cool. Many don't see any problem at all with living like this, they believe this is perfectly acceptable, and that God even supports them in living this lifestyle. They believe so long as they claim to be Christian no matter how they live that everything will be okay. I know because I have talked to many people who have said this and I used to be one of them too. But when I took the time to stop looking only to Pastors on tv or at my church and really read the Word for myself I realized walking with Jesus is an all or nothing commitment. I started to see how over and over and over He declares it so in many different ways, different stories, and verses, saying form the start to Israel, 'No other gods before me,'(Exodus 20:3) and that we are to seek Him with all our hearts and soul (Deuteronomy 6:5, Jeremiah 29:13 and more).
      These revelations were convicting when I first started to have them settle on my heart. Suddenly I saw clearly how I had been Israel, how I had been worshipping a golden calf believing I was pleasing the Lord who had delivered me but how in reality, it was only my image of God that I was worshipping (Exodus 32). The God of the Bible is a jealous God, (Deuteronomy 4:24, Exodus 34:14) and He wants all of us, not just part of us. He wants our whole heart and soul to be anchored on Him, and He honors those who walk in this manner like David, Joseph, Daniel and the apostles. But I had not been doing that, I believed in God and said I loved Him, but my trust, faith and energy were not devoted to Him or bringing Him honor. I was devoted to my money and obtaining as much as I could, I was devoted to friends and keeping up with that lifestyle, and I was devoted to the pain I kept locked up in my heart, constantly thinking about and worrying about when more would come.  
       God tells us through His son that we cannot serve two masters and Yeshua breaks it done clearly for us to understand in Matthew 6:24 where He says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." And serving other God's I was, the god of money, the god of this world, and the god of pain. These things were what was real to me and what I devoted my time and thoughts too. These things were really my god, but I never saw it until I went in search of the real Living God.
       Serving the false idols I had unwittingly created left me empty and wanting more, a more that could not be satisfied by persisting in that life anymore. Each week I was going to church and feeling nothing, each week I was listening to sermons on tv and feeling nothing. All I heard and saw was fluff, and all of left me wondering, where is God? Who is He really? Then I read the Word and started to see who God was and is. I started seeking Him for real, giving Him the time and attention He always deserved. I started to understand that verses like Matthew 16:24-25 were not be taken lightly, and I started to notice the frequency with which God reminds us in the Bible to seek Him with all our hearts and soul. I read and really understood for the first time the words the Lord spoke about being lukewarm to the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-19, and I knew that He was talking to me too. All of this together reinforced in me a truth I had always known but never really accepted, there is no in between with God. There is only the wheat and the tares (Matthew13:24-30), and I was called to be wheat. I may have to grow up in the field with tares but I am not like the tares and I cannot be like them either.
       Today I close by asking you, are you walking in between? Are you trying to balance God and the world? Are you really worshipping the golden calf when you think you're serving the Lord? Check your heart right down to the roots, where is your attention really going, what are your true motives? Be Blessed in the name of our risen Lord, Yeshua.

Joshua 23:7-8
7 so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them. 8 "But you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day

Psalm 105:4   
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Amos 5:4   
For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live

Matthew 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

Revelation 3:15-19
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent