1 Kings 18:21
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

If we would follow one, we must leave the other behind. How long will we hem and haw between the two choices that we have? How long will we say we desire to serve God and leave one foot in the world just in case we can get something out of it? Are we giving God our full obedience, our full allegiance, or have we retained a couple idols that we still bow down to? Perhaps it’s time to stand up once and for all and make a commitment one way or the other.

We can’t serve Baal and then beg God for deliverance when trouble comes along. We can’t bow to some graven image and then wonder why God isn’t blessing our lives. We can’t surrender to Him partway and then wonder why we have no peace. It’s a cut-and-dried, black-and-white, one-or-the-other kind of decision. We must go all in, or we might as well be all out. Our jealous God does not want to share our hearts with the multitude of things we try to fill them with.

All we have to do is make a simple comparison. On one side is a cold stone idol that can’t hear our cries or our prayers. It can’t see us as we struggle through the trials of life. It has no power to deliver, no strength to uphold. It has no life to restore us, no mercy to ease our burdened shoulders, no love to fill our empty hearts. On the other side is God, who hears us when we cry out, watches over us, and offers us in abundance everything that our idols lack, whatever they may be.

It really is an easy choice when we look at it that way. So why are we still so reluctant at times to surrender completely to God and leave everything else behind? Perhaps it’s pride that makes us desire to be in control and seek our own way. Maybe we’re afraid we won’t get what we really want out of life or that He’ll ask us to give up something precious. Maybe we just don’t fully understand who God is and what He’s about and what it means to serve Him.

It’s a choice we all have to make, though. God says that whoever is not for Him is against Him. God says His Son is the only way. God says He loves us and desires fellowship with us. God says He will never leave us. And God says He is truth. The alternative is death, the lies of the devil, turmoil, hopelessness, and unfathomable loss. Which one will we choose? What are we willing to exchange just to go along with the evil crowd? Let’s make a commitment right now to serve God alone with our whole hearts.