Walkin' The Line

Hey Everyone,

I'm sure you have all heard the phrase "walking a fine line".  We all have to do it, and it's not always an easy thing to navigate because we make missteps along the way.

Here is a question that makes me think about this 'line':  "How can we help the world to be more accepting and less judgmental of each other?"

A good question to be sure!  As a Christian, I have thought this one myself, and have wrestled with this idea that followers of Jesus should not be 'judgmental' but should be 'accepting'.  So how do we understand what we should be about in this?

Let's look at two passages from the Bible: Psalm 119:66 and Romans 15:7

Psalm 119:66 says "Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands."
and Romans 15:7 "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

So what?  Well, in a nutshell the Psalm passage tells me that I should expect to make judgments and that I can make both good and bad ones.  And Romans tells me I should have an accepting attitude of others.

So how can I do both?  How can I exercise judgment and still be accepting?  Let's remember that making good judgments includes judgements about other people.  Our culture works hard to make us think that this is simply not good--it says: "hands off" when it comes to making judgments about other people.  Can't you just hear the comments:  "Who are you to judge me!"  Expressing your opinion about ideas or philosophies is fine, but for me to express a judgment about another person?  No way!

So instead of making God-inspired judgments we veer off this path and go hard after accepting others.  When accepting others looks like the 'tolerance mantra' of our current culture, then we have allowed something other than God to teach us what accepting means.  Pay attention to what God says in Romans about accepting others--it says we should do so 'as Christ accepted you."  What does this mean?  Well, one thing it means is that Christ has not accepted everyone.  This doesn't mean that He doesn't love everyone--He does, but He has only accepted those who have received Him as Lord and Saviour.  Jesus set limits around this idea of 'accepting' people.

There is also a big difference between accepting and welcoming.  Jesus welcomes everyone and those who reject Him, He stills love unconditionally.  When we are told to accept others then we need to also accept that God is giving us some parameters as to what that should look like, and what our hearts should look like too.

Does this make you feel a bit queasy, like it doesn't quite add up? Here is another thought: I have heard some people say that I can 'accept' you but not what you do. I would like to say that this kind of acceptance is much more like Jesus' heart of welcoming than it is acceptance. We need to work hard to make this distinction.

So how would I summarize this for us?  I would say this:  if I want to make the world a more accepting and less judgmental place then I need to do so the way Jesus did.  Those who accepted His terms for relationship He accepted as sons and daughters--close intimacy.  But those who did not, He kept an open and willing heart filled with love for them.

Can we do this too?  This would mean that we don't accept the world's view of extreme tolerance which basically means that there are almost no parameters that explain what acceptance is really about.  And it also means that we avoid judgmentalism by having hearts filled with genuine love for everyone.

Sounds like a pretty fine line though doesn't it?--one that I don't think we can walk on our own.  So what do we do?

Well there is one other statement embedded in the Psalm passage I mentioned above and it is this:  'for I believe in your commands.'  The psalmist is saying here that he is trusting in God to teach him how to navigate this fine line of living like God.

And that is how we must live too--with a belief that we must be trained by God to help us walk the fine line of acceptance and judgment.

Our world will change in wonderful ways if we will take His direction seriously!

Bless you as you walk. . . .

BT