Balance BEAM

A friend told me recently I've been straddling a line. I believe the words she actually used were, "tip toeing on the fence-pole." Tip toeing, which speaks to my timidity. On the fence pole, which speaks to my aversion to taking sides.

Guilty as charged.

It is not, though, as murky and self-indulgent as it seems, I think.

I say to a friend yesterday that I struggle to choose a side not because I'm afraid of the cost, but because I desperately want the gospel to go forward to all men. When Paul says to "Be all things to all men" I can't help but wonder if He meant what He said a little later to the Philippians, "Whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed." I think Paul was so zealous for the souls of men that he understood sometimes we have to close our mouths on open issues, and open our mouths on closed issues.

The only closed issue for me is the gospel.

That is the good news that while we were dead in our sins, helpless to beat our slavery to religiosity, legalism, licentiousness, and idolatry, Christ came and through the breaking of His body, the shedding of His blood on the cross, covered the unrighteousness of His children with His righteousness.

On two beams, crossed and rough, hewn into that on which God made flesh died—this is where God broke balance for all time, yet also where He sets us free to walk that careful and kept line.

That is the beam upon which I stand, that is the cornerstone of my faith, and that is the marked measure of everything that I write, say, and do. Apart from that truth above, I am nothing. With it, I can walk this balance with confidence and joy.

What issues are clouding the gospel for you today? Where have you let a doctrine or ideal or politic or feeling divide your affection from Christ? Are you willing to open your hand and trust that God is building His kingdom on the beams of the cross? 

Note: You've probably noticed that my whole "I'm going to post everyday" thing has tapered off. I promise it wasn't from lack of discipline, but instead people saying, whoa! too much! uncle! we can't keep up with all the reading! So I'm back to posting three times a week—hope that's okay!