Caught in the Act

Have you ever pretended to think one thing while really believing something else?
At one time or another most us have tacitly agreed with a persuasive person simply by failing to disagree. Or we've looked the other way or nodded knowingly while a red flag went up in our minds. It's a difficult and even dangerous balancing act attempting to please people on both sides of a controversial fence. The only remedy of avoiding such a precarious position is to decide which side of the fence really matters and then get down from the fence and take a stand.
The prophet Elijah confronted the people of his day and demanded they choose whom they would serve-the true God of Israel or the false gods of the pagan nations surrounding them. He basically challenged them, "Get off the fence! You can't have it both ways. Either live your lives in a way that is pleasing to the one true God...or not."
Most of us have never been put in a position in which we had to choose between worshiping the true God or bowing down to statues made of wood or stone. Yet we often find ourselves tempted to try that balancing act while lying in a spiritually and morally bankrupt culture. We may compromise our lifestyles, going to places or doing thing we really know we shouldn't. We may even justify our behavior by saying we don't want to offend anyone. Or we neglect to say the things we know we should and then excuse ourselves by saying we will let our faith be seen in our actions rather than heard in our words. At time these may be legitimate claims, but at other times they may be nothing more than convenient excuses so we don't have to risk rejection.
Elijah wasn't concerned with rejection when he challenged the false prophets and called the people to serve the true God. He put it all on the line-even his life. The prophet refused to compromise or put himself in the precarious position of riding the fence;as a result, God vindicated him in the sight of his enemies. He was caught in the act of standing up for God. Can that be said of you?
-Women's Devotional Bible

~1 Kings 18:21~
Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

~Deuteronomy 30:15-20~
15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.
16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,
18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

~Joshua 24:14-19~
14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 
15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
16 The people replied, “We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods.
17 For the Lord our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us.
18 It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the Lord, for he alone is our God.”
19 Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

~Matthew 10:32-39~
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.
35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!’
37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 
38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.
39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.