You can say no to Him.
But if you say maybe, maybe just a bit, you've just become vomit.
I'm doing a great study right now by Jennifer Kennedy Dean called Power in the Name of Jesus.
She explains a lot of the historical background we just can't get from the English translation. She sites John 9:39 where Jesus says, "For judgment I have come into this world"
According to Dean the word for Judgment here means "to force a decision."
It means when Jesus comes into our life we have to decide to follow Him or not to follow Him. We can't sit on the fence (that gets mighty uncomfortable pretty quickly).
I am going to quote a lengthy passage from this study found on pages 69-70. This is what Dean writes:
This day was a Sabbath. Do you remember that Jesus' healing on a Sabbath was the Pharisees' most outraged complaint against Him? Yet here we find Him again,healing on a Sabbath. Jesus is sending a message. He is making a point. God is not a God who watches punctiliously over His rules. He is a God who watches carefully over His people. His Torah was not given to oppress His people, but rather to free them and protect them.
"He is showing who He is.He chooses to heal this man (who was born blind) using a method He has not used before. He spits in some dirt and makes clay. First you need to know that human saliva was thought to be very effective as a balm for the eye. 'Fasting spittle' was most effective. The Talmud (their oral Torah rules) specifically forbids the use of spittle on the eyes on the Sabbath. Jesus is very deliberately rebelling against a Sabbath tradition that elevated the oral torah above the needs of the people.
Isn't that great! Jesus was refusing to allow the teachers of the Law to hide behind appearances and their own rules. He was forcing them to make a decision about Truth, about Himself, about what is true life.
He does the same with us. He tells us in Revelation 3:16, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."
He can't just be part of your life.
You can't just have part of Him.
You take all of Him or none of Him.
He takes all of you or none of you. If you try live pleasing people and pleasing God, no one will be pleased. If you try to live pleasing people you'll never succeed.
But if you live a life pleasing to God, He'll be so pleased and You will have peace.
Choose Him.
He's wild.
Unpredictable.
Even dangerous.
But He is what life is about.