There is No Middle Ground

By Elizabeth Prata

I am on a rotation for being a helper in children’s Sunday School once per month. It’s consistently edifying to see how the children respond to the truths presented in the lesson. It’s always gratifying to see that their growth is added to the foundation their parents are laying at home.

The lesson this week was about the people who mocked Jesus at the cross and the ones who did not. As the Bible was read sentence by sentence in the passage, the children were asked ‘Did this person or group honor Jesus, or dishonor Him?’ The children responded by taping a printed picture under a happy face or a sad face on one side of the board or the other.

As we neared the end of the lesson, one tyke noticed something about the way the pictures had been arranged. He said there was nobody in the middle. Which is perceptive.

Those who mocked Him were the Jewish crowds, the chief priests, scribes, & elders, Roman soldiers, and the two thieves crucified alongside him.

Those who honored Him were the centurion, eventually the repentant thief, the women who stood off from the crowd, Joseph of Arimathea.

There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus. In our daily lives we ‘hedge our bets’ all the time on a score of things. We don’t utter an opinion, we sit on the fence, we take no chances, and stay on the safe side. This might be to keep the extended family peace, to keep the calm at work, and so on.

With Jesus there is only His safe side with Him, or against Him and destruction. You have to pick a side. Or as one little Sunday School student said about the centurion, “He was on God’s team.”

The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matthew 12:30).

Mark phrases it like this: For the one who is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:40).

Many of today’s people do not like to talk about destruction, wrath, or hell. But it is the default destination of all flesh if they reject Jesus’ offer of salvation.

On Judgment Day, each person will be judged one by one by Jesus. It will not matter if you were hiding in a crowd. It will not matter if you were refraining from speaking of Jesus at Thanksgiving ‘to keep the peace’. It will not matter of you desired a workspace unruffled by religious feathers. Not when it comes to the topic of the Gospel and Jesus. Each and every soul will be examined to see if you were with Him or against Him.