Wholeness: A Line in the surface

One of the biggest struggles in the church is knowing where to draw the line on issues. How do we stand up for truth without forsaking love? How do we honor justice without coming off as merciless? How do we quench the passions of the flesh without quenching the passions of the spirit as well? How do we live by grace without rationalizing sinful acts? Is this not part of the reason we have so many denominations? Someone feels that a specific truth is being neglected, so they start a new denomination to lift up that truth again, only to neglect something else. So every time we cross said lines we ending up violating the truth we profess. Which the world around us is eager to use against the church.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. -Matthew 23:23-24

With that being said, many of our errors are done in pure ignorance, we simply don't know as we should know. This idea of three-dimensional holiness and how wholeness fits into it is a prime example. Understanding the full depths of holiness, instead of looking at it in a one-dimensional way, is but one way we can clear up where some of these lines should be drawn, and how we've crossed them. As they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Looking at holiness as righteousness only can lead to a purely cosmetic faith, in which there is no wholeness to be found in. So there is no inspiring the lost in that either. A mere surface faith definitely doesn't know where to draw the lines, let alone recognize them when we've crossed them. It's about maintaining appearances as they perceive them, which is an incomplete perception for sure. Which doesn't impress God in the slightest.

I’ve said this before, but I can’t possibly say it enough, the standard of holiness is a reflection of the very nature of God. I dare say he is more complex than you or I. Yet we treat him as someone of little depth if we oversimplify what Holiness really is.

In scripture, we see Jesus using both the stern hand of discipline, as well as the gentle hand of grace. In his divinity, he could look into someone's heart as easily as looking in the window. So he always knew what was needed in every situation. We don't have it as easy, but we do have resources to know where to draw the line in specific instances. (James 1:5, Luke 12:12) That does us no good if we don't utilize them, or simply follow what's comfortable and convenient for us. I recall when I was having trouble dealing with and understanding someone in particular. So I prayed about the situation, suddenly once seemingly insignificant details started to glare out at me. So everything came into sharper focus with this person. I dare say the church had done him a disservice by drawing the line in the wrong place with him. My only regret was that I didn't pray about this much sooner. Maybe he could have been a more whole person himself if we hadn't been so focused on ourselves in dealing with his seemingly rude behavior.

One command never supersedes another, so a truly holy person will not violate a principle for the sake of truth.  

The Visual PARABLEist