Writing about a 1/2 century ago, A.W. Tozer talked about the term, “Accepting Christ”. In our day and age, that is still bandied about, but certainly not as much part of the vocabulary of the regular person.
The part that struck me was his thoughts on being inclusive and exclusive.
As you know, our society has made inclusivity the hallmark of a citizen. We must include everyone in everything. The flattening on society has meant that excellence is not necessary, nor is a sense of right and wrong. Those are general statements that carry exceptions. But, “in general . . .”
Tozer states that a Christian is all-inclusive. All of their life is given all to Jesus. Not a part – all of life is included in our commitment to Jesus.
A Christian is also all-exclusive. There is no giving of partial allegiance to Jesus and partial allegiance to another person, force or consideration. All to Jesus!
Reading these statements a 1/2 century later means I am in a different world than that in which Tozer wrote. But somehow the atmosphere of life has not changed. Christians live in the balance of exclusivity and inclusivity. Just not the way our society proclaims these terms.