Draw a Line

So often we are told to be tolerant and accepting. We just need to love people. Above all, we should avoid offending anyone, even at the cost of our core beliefs. Is that biblical? How do we tell the difference between love and compromise? Where do we draw the line?

Ephesians 5:1-3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;

2 Timothy 1:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Hebrews 1:8-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB) (emphasis added)

But of the Son He says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

1 John 2:4-6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

1 John 5:1-3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

All of these verses talk about love. The greatest commandment is to love God, the second is to love others, but it has to happen in that order. We must love God first and that means following His commands. In obedience we do not “earn” anything, but rather show that we are God’s children and love Him. We are proven to be the children of the one we imitate. If we don’t imitate God how can we say we are His children?

These verses all make it clear that loving God requires, or rather begets, obedience. We don’t obey to earn His love, but to show that we love Him. Disobedience shows a lack of love because it is following God’s enemy instead of God. Jesus died to save us from sin. Is it loving to continue in the sin He died to save us from?

Ephesians 2:3-5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Loving God transforms us into His likeness. It makes us like Him. That is how we know we are truly saved, because we have evidence of that transformation in our lives. While we are not perfect, we are getting closer to perfection. Love burns in us a desire to become like God, to honor Him by imitating Him. We cannot compromise with the world, for to be like the world is to be like God’s enemy. The two are opposite and there is no middle ground. We must choose one or the other, and we will serve the one we love.

The trick to this is that the more we become like God, the less we will be like the world. And the world hates that. They don’t want to think that their way is wrong. The problem is that if they never accept that their way is wrong, they can never be saved for they will never see their need for a Savior. To be saved is to admit our sin, ask forgiveness and turn from it to the newness God has for us. We need to be different so that they can see the difference. If we are like the world, the world will have no reason to change.

We have to remember that the world hated Christ because He was different and His “difference” revealed what was wrong in them, not out of arrogance or put downs, but by example and love. Love is not saying a person can live however they want even if it hurts them. Love would want what is best for that person, to stop doing what is harmful.

This is a delicate balance, for we should not walk out and tell everyone who doesn’t live like us that they are going to hell. That is not loving. We should be humble and led by the Spirit in everything. We can’t expect the world to live like us because they don’t share our beliefs, but we also shouldn’t excuse sinful lifestyles and choices. We need to love others without compromising ourselves, our beliefs, or condoning sin. This is a difficult path to walk which is why we need humility and God’s guidance to help us. We cannot love them without God’s love in us. We need to remember that we were once unsaved children of wrath, but God saved us by His love. We should offer that same message of hope to those around us.

We still need to stand up for what is right, not ignoring sin or allowing sinful laws to be passed, without worrying about what others will think. The world hated Jesus. They will hate us for being like Jesus. If the world approves of us, we are not living like Him, loving Him, or loving them.

It is time for us to draw a line in the sand. To say “we will not cross this line, we will stand for what is right.”

Galatians 1:9-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Ephesians 6:6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

We need to be slaves of God, living as He does for His honor and glory, and stop trying to make everyone else like us and be happy with what we do. The world has enough of the world. They need to see Jesus, even if they don’t like it. We should not be so worldly minded that we are of no heavenly good. We need to keep our minds set on the things of God and not worry about what the world thinks. The world is contrary to God so it is going to act contrary to God and hate God because of it.

Are you willing to stand for what is right? Are you willing to love those who aren’t loveable? Are you willing to draw a line in the sand?

Will you repent of our nation’s and society’s sins, begging God to forgive us and heal our land? Will you repent of your own sin? Will you ask God to forgive you for ignoring or even condoning sin and ask Him to lead you in the way of love and righteousness?