Yesterday I decided to try out my newly acquired winter running gear. The stuff is to keep me warmer as I brave the brisk temperatures common to this time of year. Water resilience is not a noted design feature of the gear I donned, although that would have been more appropriate, as I managed to time my run to coincide with one of the heavier downpours of yesterday’s freaky wet weather.
While I sloshed through melting and rain-drenched snow I listened to a Christmas sermon from All Souls Church in the UK which a friend had recommended. One point stuck with me; the story of Christmas confronts us with a choice: to be gullible or to be culpable.
If we choose to believe the creator God donned human flesh and was born a helpless babe we are libeled as gullible by sophisticated society that knows better than to believe such fables to be true. However, if we, for whatever reason, choose to reject that God became man and dwelt among us, then God declares us to culpable of our unbelief.
Gullible or culpable, what have you chosen?
Guilty as charged. Gullible. Most of the time. Usually never culpable. But some of the time maybe a third option. Stand at a distance when sophisticated society overwhelms me and act like Peter at that point.
Anna, your third option captures our attempt to straddle two kingdoms but how legit is that? I know we do it, but I hear Jesus saying, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Mt 12:30)