Yet I hold this against you, You have forsaken the love you had at first. Revelation 2:4
I know . . . that you are neither cold nor hot. Revelation 3:15
Neutral sounds so safe. About the only good place neutral lives is in paint color. Everywhere else, a neither-nor limbo is like the sun decides to stay halfway gone and steals night from us.
There is no neutral in Christianity. Jesus made that clear. It is an all-in call. Think about it. Fisherman left a boat full of fish to follow Jesus. Matthew left a cush job of skimming money that put money in his his pockets.
Christmas reminds us that God isn't neutral about us, either. He voted unreservedly for us when He sent us Jesus. He showed us what it looks like when God lives in flesh and blood.
Jesus came into our world to challenge lukewarm commitment. You are neither cold or hot,” God cried with a broken heart.
God did not send Jesus to be a people-pleaser. God set the whole of His Divine character into flesh and blood. He risked everything with this vote. He risked our misunderstanding. He risked our rejection. He risked that His All-in vote wouldn’t budge our self-centered unraveling with any more success than the prophets had experienced.
God sent Jesus anyway because Love, pure selfless Love, always votes with the heart.
Our God of Christmas despises neutrality for good reason; it robs His loved children of their inheritance.
There is only one way to welcome Jesus this Christmas; with confession and repentance. When you agree that God’s vote for you is your only hope in this broken world (confession), and turn away from anything that would keep you neutral about God’s vote (repentance); you leave the lie of neutrality to experience where the unfailing love of God leads you.
Christmas is God’s vote for you. All He wants for Christmas is our life given back to Him without one taint of neutrality about it.
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