Those drives home from church are fairly typical. You talk through the sermon discussing those finer points of the message that you can sprinkle through your week like "love my kids more," "spend more time in devotions" or "doing more to serve those in need." But all of these mores usually disintegrate Monday morning on the drive to work. Today though, our drive home was different. The more I talked, the more passionate I became. The pastor today was talking about the explosive power of the Gospel and how regardless of whether the response is positive or negative, the explosion prompts a response. For some its fear, for some its joy and for some its opposition. I was thinking about fence-sitters like myself who find themselves often not responding as quickly or as strongly to the Gospel as I'd hope. And I was prompted to mind a modern-day metaphor to the "luke-warmedness" we read about in Revelation. It may sound strange but the reality is this: you cannot co-habitate with the Gospel. Either you're all in or you're all out.
Co-habitation involves reaping the benefits of marriage without the commitment of marriage. Its a lifestyle that has become more and more commonplace. It's a fence-sitting situation. Some might argue that it is about testing the waters of a relationship but the more I counsel people who participate in this lifestyle the more I see it being primarily a commitment issue. Basically, "I'll take the fruit of relationship without a commitment of caring for the tree."
The reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that He asks for our lives by laying down His own first. By communicating to us, He's all in and inviting us to the same. "Take up a cross because I am fully committed to you." The Gospel reality, Christ's unfailing and unwavering commitment to us, has the potential to explode in us a response of "I do! I will! I'm yours!" I pray that God would move me out of a mindset and lifestyle where I reap the fruits of forgiveness without remembering the tree on which He hung. May the Gospel explode in my life and cause me to respond with utter joy and full devotion.
