Where Do We Draw the Line?
Where do we draw the line: in pleasure, in speech, in action, and in doubtful things? The Bible says that man should love God will all his heart, soul, strength, and mind–that he cannot serve two masters. But there are those who try to serve God and at the same time draw very near to doubtful things.
A man who owned a large estate advertised for a driver. The garage to the house ran along the edge of a cliff. Three men applied for the job. The owner asked the first man how close he could drive the car to the edge of the cliff without going over. The man replied, “About 12 inches.” The second applicant was asked the same question. He said, “From 3 to 6 inches.” When the third applicant heard the owner’s question and the other applicants’ responses, he stood up to leave before being questioned. The owner stopped him and asked why he was leaving. The third applicant said, “There’s no point in me applying for the job, because I would stay as far away from the edge of the cliff as possible.” The owner said, “You are the driver I want.”
These three applicants for the driver’s job represent three kinds of people:
- Those who draw the line at a comparatively safe distance from evil and destruction.
- Those who get as close as they can without intending to go over the cliff.
- Those who keep as far away as they can.
There is a line between evil and good, between sin and righteousness. The evening news shows this daily passing over the line. We see the faces of those who have passed over this line to their shame. But there are those who deny the difference between good and evil.
If we believe that there is a clearly defined line between good and evil, where do we draw it? Do we place it where God places it in the Bible, or where man puts it by saying something like, “I see no harm in it.”
- In conduct, discuss the idea of euthanasia: Does a man with an incurable disease have a right to commit suicide? “Yes,” said one judge. “Yes,” said several doctors. But God’s law says, “Thou shalt not kill / murder.” A soldier on duty has no right to desert his post.
- Man’s law says you have the right to take vengeance. God’s law goes further and says you must not think wrong of any man. What causes confusion in our thinking and conduct is that we too often substitute a man-made law for the Law of God.
In some good things, it is not always easy to say just where the line is. Between the extreme of winter and that of summer, there are all sorts of weather. But each person usually knows which direction he is facing when he is travelling–he knows what kind of weather to expect. This is an illustration of what the attitude should be on debatable grounds. We are either facing towards better or worse conditions of life; and every person knows which way he is facing in his own heart.
There are some people who cross the line into evil and come back again. They say, “There, we have done evil and come back all right.” This is the old story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The respectable doctor became the disreputable Mr. Hyde once too often, and he could not get back. The world is full of people who have gone into evil once too often and could not get back.
A person needs to examine the inclinations of his heart by God’s Word, and he can very quickly tell where his desires are. Another test is prayer. A man went to his pastor one day with a difficult issue. The pastor was puzzled by the intricacy of the issue; he believed the man was holding something back, so he advised, “Why don’t you pray about it?” The reply surprised the pastor: “Because God won’t let me do it!”