How Long Halt ye Between Two Opinions?

I 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.”

Personally, this is my favorite Bible story–Elijah on Mt. Carmel. As a competitive person, I like to see the underdog win. Yes, Elijah had God on his side, so he really wasn’t an underdog. However, to man, he seemed greatly outnumbered. 850 false prophets against 1 man of God.

He asked all those that had gathered to watch this competition, “How long halt he between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” The same question can be asked to Christians today. By voice, almost every Christian is following God, but by action, many are not. The Bible addresses this in Mark 7:6 which states, “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Many times as Christians, we try to have more than one master in our lives. We will serve God at church and fulfill our “church responsibilities,” but we do not serve God during the week or in our personal times. The Bible makes it very clear that this does not work in Matthew 6:24 which says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This was a problem in Elijah’s day, and it is a problem in our day as well. Too many people are halting between two opinions. They are stuck in the middle of serving God and serving themselves. The Bible refers to this person as a lukewarm person in Revelation. Revelation 3:16 reads, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” This type of person disgusts our God.

I do not want to be stuck in the middle of serving God and serving myself. I want to choose the Lord with both my mouth and my actions. I want to serve the Lord with 100% of what I have.