Hold the Line

As pastor brought the word this evening on standards, I had many things going through my mind. As he spoke about how churches have pushed over those fences to enlarge their borders, my mind raced.

One thought that came to mind was the teachings that were focused on for so long within the churches I was attending at the time, specifically the prayer of Jabez. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 says, "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested." If the entirety of this prayer was what was taught, we would be holding the line of the standards set forth because His hand would be upon us. Instead, we focus solely on the part where he prayed for the enlarged coast (border).

Another thought took me waaayyy back to my teenage years. Susan Ashton had a song that I liked. I would sing it whenever I played the CD but I never just sat and thought about the lyrics. "It's hard to tell just when the night bacomes the day
That golden moment when the darkness rolls away
But there is a moment none the less.
In the regions of the heart there is a place
A sacred chater that should not be erased
It is the marrow; the moral core that I can not ignore.
Within the scheme of things
Well I know where I stand
My convictions they define who I am
Some move the boundaries at any cost
But there is a line, I will not cross
No riding on the fence - no alibis
No building on the sands of compromise
I won't be borrowed and I can't be bought
There is a line, I will not cross.
Ask the ocean where the water meets the land
He will tell you it depends on where you stand
And you're neither right or wrong.
But in the fathoms of the soul that won't ring true
Cause truth is more than an imposing point of view
It rises above the changing tide
As sure as the morning sky."

As I listened again to those words as I drove home tonight, I was reminded of the truth I have come to know within these past three years. The times when I had questioned and pushed every boundary that I could over the course of my life. It was in those times when I crossed the lines that I lost myself. In the three years I have been in the Apostolic faith, there have been times that I regret to say, I wanted to push those boundaries. Did I want to hold the standards that are given in the Word? No. But each time I tried to go against them, there was that truth that rose up within me that would not let me go against it. 

The song we sung tonight, I WON'T TURN BACK. As my old Susan Ashton song said, some move the boundaries at any cost but there is a line I will not cross.

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