Blurring the Lines

Evil happens not only when we do evil, but when we blur the lines between good and evil.

Often we work at keeping the lines blurred in thinking that this blurring of lines helps us communicate better, or relate more, or avoid confrontation. In fact, we may spend so much of our time finding middle ground that we never advance, and this lack of advancement is tantamount to going backwards.

For example, one might argue that in order to "relate" to a Godless culture we need to live in a manner that the Godless would understand. He/She might state that in order to be able to talk with them we need to live in their neighborhoods, drive the cars they drive, entertain ourselves the way they entertain themselves, and in essence, erase all distinctions that might show us to be different.

As we do this, we blur the lines of demarcation. As we do this, we give little incentive for them to change, and little reason for them to see us changed.

What would happen if we decided to live in a neighborhood that was less than our income could normally support so that we could use the excess resources we save for kingdom work. Would that hinder us from being a testimony to those in our income bracket, or make us more intriguing? Would that hinder us from being a testimony to those in our "poorer" neighborhood, or make us more intriguing? What if we drove cars until they actually needed replacing, and then replaced them with reasonable, gas efficient models? Would that stop us from "relating" to our peers, or give us something to talk about? What if our marriages were solid and our commitments were unquestioned? Would that help or hinder our ability to "relate" to those around us?

Sometimes I think we have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of changing hearts, and we do so by trying to "relate" to people who do not know God, rather than trying to live our lives to please God. It is not our job to "relate". It is our job to obey and to love. It is God's job to convict and to bring people to Himself and He uses obedient, set-apart people to do this. This does not mean that we live "strangely" on purpose; it means that as we live in obedience to God, our lives will be strange to those who choose to live without Christ.

This "blurring" the line thing is something that permeates all erroneous thinking. This past week I listened to our President speak to the Arab nations. If you listened to his speech and his statements to various heads, of states you would be totally confused as to what we as a nation stand for and who we are. He seemed to say the following: We are not a Christian nation but we are not quite Muslim. We would be a large Muslim nation if it were not for all the Christians. Israel has had it hard, but they have been hard. The Palestinians have been mean but they have had others mean to them. At the end of his speeches I realized that, in trying to relate and not offend all, he related to none, and offended all.

That is how it is with Christians who blur the lines. That is why we are losing a generation.