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All through the years, there have been people who believed in God, others who did not, and yet others who did or do when it suits them or when they think they need God. It has always been like that.
Luke 16:13 – [Jesus said,] "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (NKJV)
Many years ago, there were many beggars in England, and the story is told about Bennie the beggar, who lived in Newcastle-on-Tyne. On the other side of the river is the city of Gateshead. The two cities were connected by a walking bridge. A lot of people would use this bridge to go from one city to the other, and Bennie would be there with his little tin can, asking for donations from the people.
The border of the cities was the centre of the bridge, and that is where he would stand. However, begging was illegal, so if he saw a policeman coming from Gateshead, he would stand on the Newcastle side of the line, and if a policeman came from there, he would stand on the Gateshead side of the line.
And then, one day it happened: there was a policeman coming from both cities. Bennie did not know what to do, to stand on one side or the other. Either way, he would be arrested. So he put one foot on each side of the line. The policemen told him he could not do that; he had to make up his mind whether he wanted to be in Newcastle or in Gateshead. He had to decide which side of the line he wanted to be on.
And so it is with us: we have to choose; we cannot straddle the line of faith. Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me." (Matthew 12:30a NKJV) To be loyal to Christ, we cannot be obedient one day and then disobedient the next, as it suits us. We, too, have to choose.
Joshua, too, in his farewell address as leader of the people of Israel, told them to make a choice. "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 NKJV)
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank You that You have given us the choice as to whom we will serve, and we thank You for the words of Scripture which are our guide in life and our comfort in times of need. Amen.
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Thank you Joel.
Good story Joel and a wonderful application.
Yes, thank you Father that we are now making the right choice. Thank you, Joel for the verses.
Oh – funny. Quite a canny chappie, but he met his match.
Thank you for sharing Joel.
Hi Joel,
You selected a wonderful story to deal with what might well be called the greatest problem in the life of any Christian today. And just as the beggar could not forever stand across two boundaries so Christians must “Choose this day whom they shall serve,” which in today’s world with some of today’s churches preaching this and others preaching that, is not easy to do.
Blessings.
Good Morning Joel:
What a great illustration.
Too often we speak with a fork tongue, we seem to go along with whatever crowd we find ourselves in the company of and feel certain God would approve our being part of something He Lord would frown upon. Let us never forget, God sees and hears our every action we partake of and He does not want us to be unfaithful to Him and allow ourselves to become lukewarm and part of the “do what makes you feel good” society.
This was a message of caution to all and I want to thank you for your words of wisdom and challenge to Christians who are often caught in the center of controversy and sometimes agree with something they know is not in tune with God’s will for our lives.
Thank you.
Amen Joel. I think all of us have been in Bennie’s position with regard to the Lord at one time or another. May be never straddle the line again. Blessings.
I love the main message, boiled down to the nitty gritty. In a word: CHOOSE.
While you still can -Choose Life.
Thanks Joel.
Your devotion from yesterday was very interesting! Thanks for writing.