Lines are good…sometimes.

Lines are good in baseball.  They tell us when a ball is fair or foul (if the umpire knows the difference).  They tell us where we can run.

Lines are good in accounting.  The bottom line tells us how we are doing.  Reckon that actually tells us if it is good or bad.  🙂

Lines are good when driving.  The dotted line tells us it is okay to pass.   The end lines tell us where the safety of the road stops.

Lines are not good in drugs.  Lines of coke are a bad thing.

Lines in stores are not good.   Depending on the store, lines determine the length of the wait.

Lines are not good when you have had too much to drink, especially when a trooper is watching.

Lines are difference makers.

One of the most poignant scenes in Jesus’ life-and depicted well in The Passion-is when Jesus drew the line in the sand with the woman caught in adultery.  He drew a line in the sand “daring” the religious rulers to cross over.  Recently I was working on my sermons for March & April (leading up to and following after Easter).  I didn’t like the ones I had chosen last November and decided to rework some.  While researching I ran across the illustration of the soldier during the Civil War who couldn’t decide on which side to fight.  So he put on the blue coat from the North and the gray trousers from the South.  Then he went out on the battlefield.  He ended up getting shot at from both sides!

We may chuckle at that.  (I did). But many of us try to live our lives that way-one foot in the “world” and one foot in faith.  The tragedy is that many times the line in the sand that should separate us becomes blurred and we can no longer clearly follow either one.  The greater tragedy (in my mind) is when compromise becomes the norm because I can no longer make a distinction between the things of God and the things of the world.  Those things that once raised the “cringe factor” barely raise an eyebrow.  Where once the Richter Scale registered a strong warning, the scale barely moves an inch now.  Compromise is so easy to fall into.  The church. The country.  Our lives.

“Choose today whom you will serve.”  “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”  “Set the believers an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.”   Jesus continues to draw the line in the sand for all who follow Him.

Have you seen the effects of compromise in someone’s life who is close to you?  Have you tried to warn others from crossing it?  How hard is it for you to stand strong and not cross the line? What have been the results?