My little 2 year old nephew is pretty clever. While he was camping with his family, he kept getting into trouble for coming too close to the fire. After repeated warnings, my brother finally got down on the ground with him and drew a line in the dirt. He said it was fine if he threw sticks in the fire, but he could not cross that line.
He played near the line for a bit, but after a while he got bored. My brother could tell he was about to do something, so he pretended he wasn’t looking, and this is what happened next. This two year old kid slowly got down on his hands and knees, peeked over his shoulder to see if his dad was looking, then reached out his little hands and smoothed out the line, and drew a new line a little closer to the fire, all the while looking back to make sure he wasn’t being watched.
What a sneaker!
I guess little kids are just as prone to human nature as adults. No one is immune to the temptation to fudge the lines when it comes to doing what we are told. There is a saying that we are all familiar with, “Rules were made to be broken!”
That gets applied at school, in the workplace, the way we drive, etc. And sadly, many of us apply it in how we live out our lives before God.
I think the reason most of us cross or think we can move the lines of obedience and morality is because we don’t live as though we are in the sight of God. It’s like we don’t really believe that He has He eye on us. Otherwise we would never do some of the things we do.
See, if I want to look at pornography, I’m probably not going to do it while my wife is sitting right next to me. If I want to drive really fast, I’m probably not going to do it in the sight of a police officer. If I want to steal from my boss, I won’t be doing it while he’s in the room.
Why do we think we are going to get away with sin when God sees every second of every minute of our lives?
“The eye of the Lord is in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3
God is ever present, always there. It’s not like he’s some overbearing supervisor that stands over your shoulder with one eyebrow raised, looking down on you with a frown and a checklist. He actually happens to be looking after you with love. But he does have rules in place, some of which to protect you, and some of which to protect others from you! Obedience is not an optional component of a relationship with God.
My brother didn’t draw a line in the dirt because he was an egomaniac who likes to force little kids into submission. It wasn’t because he didn’t want him to have fun.
He wanted his son to be safe.
Yet how many times have we moved or crossed the lines because we think God is too restrictive? The trouble is, every time we move the line closer to the fire, we are the ones in danger of getting burned.
In what ways have you personally been moving the line of obedience in your own life? Do you find yourself ignoring or playing word games with convicting passages of scripture?
According to Jesus, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin. (Jn 16:8) Ask Him if there are any areas where you have been fudging with the lines. He will be sure to bring them to mind.
Then confess, repent, and begin living your life being conscious of the fact that you are living “in the sight of God.”