Walk the Line

Walking the line as a faithful person is incredibly difficult here in Midian; even though there are plenty of people who step forward with lots of advice on how to do so.

"The line" is the narrow path the faithful person must walk between living a life of immorality and living one of moral arrogance. It is really easy to figure out how to be on one side of the line or the other; but, standing between the two sides takes a good bit of balance and a thick skin.

On one end, there are plenty of "purists" who are more than happy to tell you that the ruin of your existence is based upon certain actions or activities that you take part in. "We saw you at that pub last night," they might tell you, "those didn't look like Christians you were mingling with." The purists believe that the favor of the Lord is based upon living a life apart from sinful actions...."you're either with us, or against us."

On the other end of the line are the people who gave up on the "straight and narrow" years ago (we can call them the "dudes"). They are quick to tell you that the purists are "hypocrites," but, pretty soon you realize that these folks have their own rules as well. "Who are you to judge anything we do?" state the dudes, "Live and let live, man...if it doesn't hurt somebody, what's wrong with it?" Most of the dudes gave up on Church a long time ago..."it's kind of a drag."

With so many purists and so many dudes out there in Midian, it can be hard to find the line in-between them. Paul's letter to the Colossians talks a little bit about that line:

Colossians 2-3
Freedom From Human Rules

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such people also go into great detail about what they have seen, and their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

¹² Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Paul reminds the Church in Colossi to be wary of drifting off the line. The way Paul instructs people to navigate that line is to be much more concerned about desires than actions. If you note his dismissal of human rules, you note that Paul has little time for the purists who try and chain people down with impossible rules and regulations. Paul notes that the reason why they have these rules is not to please God; but, rather to justify themselves by their own actions. These folks want to make a good show of it in the public eye, even if their souls are rife with conflict.

That said, Paul does not give a free pass to the dudes, either. The overarching desire for the Christian has to be for God. If we let lust, greed, or other desires supplant our desire for God, then we have fallen off of the correct path.While other people can see our actions, God can see our hearts and souls. How our actions appear to others is of little interest to God...He is more concerned with our desire to know Him and to be His child.

Jesus freed us from a Law that was built on doing all the right things; but, He also layed a line in front of us and asked us to follow Him. That line is rarely found with our minds...it's a lot more about letting our hearts be the guides...