Day 4227 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 25:32 NIV

Dividing lines

They exist for a reason and that reason is that, from time to time, distinction must be made between two or more things that are different and need to remain so. It’s this decision, this determination to differentiate between varied groups or priorities or, in this case, eternities. And while strange to we who are here enamored by the pursuit of unity and community and togetherness, the simple truth is that that which is different needs be separated if the differences become so dire as to risk person or possession.

In this case both.

And that’s because as the Day comes close what we’re seeing is a world still fleeing, failing, forsaking the simple call unto an equally simple faith. So many here in this place still live this life that shows clearly a heart, a mind that’s filled with little if any interest in seeking His glory or even acknowledging His goodness. In fact it could be argued that it’s the majority who have such an outlook.

And Judgment Day is the day upon which that argument will indeed be made.

And it won’t go well for those get there thinking they’ve some excuse to have lived these lives as if these lives they could not lose.

Why?

Because when you think that you have nothing to lose you’re vastly more inclined to do whatever it is that you may want to do because you become all but convinced that nothing bad can happen. That there are no consequences, no possible costs to your actions. And when everything is then and there considered so easily to be free and fair game, well, it comes to become a thing plain to seek yourself and its pleasure first.

After all, what can it hurt to so ensure that we have fun and feel good and all but run rough shod over any and all who may stand in our way of doing the same when there’s apparently nothing about it that we’ll ever need to say? For if there are to be no questions asked then there needn’t be a worry as to whatever answers we might give.

Problem is that on that Day questions will be asked and odds are we’ll not have the answers anyway. But you see, even this seems to have become something that some use as all but another excuse. It’s almost as if we’ve all read the Bible backwards in regard to such statements as that asked by Paul in the opening of Romans 6:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”

A question itself that was asked to be considered in light of what he’d just wrote in regard to the purpose for which Christ died for us in that it was done that “grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

For sure, if the entire point of His sacrificial surrender was to achieve our salvation from sin as was to be only ever accomplished through grace, then would not our sins only show forth more of His grace, thus making Him appear all the more graceful and merciful and loving and kind?

See how we always manage to spin it around and make it seem to sound just right to lives we all but refuse to turn and even attempt to live the same?

Because indeed, looking around at the state of our society and so very many of the things being done within it, well, one would think that, yeah, we do kind of seem to at least sort of kind of believe that we should go on sinning, maybe even ought to sin even more all so that His gift of forgiveness and salvation can go on to seem even more amazing.

I literally saw someone I know post this photo not too long ago, one I’ve mentioned several times since as it’s just singed this sadness inside my bones, that clearly showed a cartoonish drawing of Jesus covered in tattoos and wearing dark sunglasses to hide the bloodshot eyes caused by the bottle of booze held in one hand with a still smoldering joint in the other all of which was held under the caption that said that if we didn’t sin then Jesus died for nothing.

Every single time that I share that photo that this person I knew shared on social media I actually have to stop and take a second to gather myself before I can get back to writing.

Why?

Because it’s one of the single most disgusting, degrading, dangerous things that I’ve ever seen shared.

And yet I’ve no doubt that the vast majority of those who saw it found it as funny or witty or worthy of the attention as did the one who shared it.

And I can’t wrap my mind around that.

For how could any have such a low level of appreciation for what is the gift of salvation? How could any continue to make light of His suffering? How could any even mockingly pretend that they were encouraging the perpetuation of sinfulness if they in any way whatsoever actually believe that He died for them?

But I guess that’s the problem, isn’t it?

It’s that most here don’t.

For most here are goats.

What’s the difference? Well, for sake of time and space we’ll just touch on a couple of social and behavioral distinctions that seem to fit rather well the present topic of discussion. For one, although the both are grazers, goats are such more as browsers who roam around eating leaves, twigs, and shrubs, or as the adage often goes literally anything else, even heard someone say they saw a goat eat a tire once! And this browsing form of grazing often finds them standing on their hind legs trying to reach higher foliage.

Always reaching for more. Always roaming around trying a little bit of everything. Always more than open to consuming whatever happens to be in front of them.

Sheep on the other hand are more stationary grazers who will happily remain in one place should they find themselves in a space that offers them that which is preferential unto them as they prefer tender grasses close to the ground as, even though decidedly and obviously more boring than the proverbial buffet that goats make anywhere and out of anything, the tender grasses are easier to find, easier to digest, and more than sustainable even though not all that exciting.

Another behavioral difference is seen in that goats are quite noticeably more curious, more agile, and monstrously more independent, each spending its time exploring individually whatever it may happen to be that’s managed to capture its interest whereas sheep are famously flock-oriented, opting to staying tightly grouped together and that following a leader, a Shepherd if you will.

Indeed, goats do whatever they want and are much harder to corral or control while sheep are far more, well, sheepish in that they’re calmer, more manageable, more docile even.

Need we go further?

Because we could. We could go into their physical differences as are seen easily in such things as their coats and the differences in their horns. We could talk about their different vocalizations and economic uses/abilities. We could go over plenty of things but the ultimate point would remain the same and that is that sheep and goats are both clearly known for what are many distinctions which exist between them.

And so then the point of this post would remain in that so too must there be at least some sort of noticeable, measureable difference to be seen between those who are His and those who are not.

Problem is that, take that stomach-turning post I mentioned above for example, these days there really isn’t. We’ve become so commonly enamored by this idea of, oddly enough, doing what God asked us not to do that, having done it anyway, there’s as of today almost no possible way to know those who are in Christ and those who aren’t.

And what did He ask us not to do that we’ve gone ahead and done anyway?

To not enter into such things as marriage or even friendship with those who are outside of the redeemed bloodline of Christ. To insist there remain a difference, a distinction, a line of division between those who are living lives outside of Christ and those are seeking to follow Him only. To pursue unity only in the church as such is called to be the body of Christ in which we’re all called to be of the same mind, the same purpose, the same pursuit as He who is our head.

And that mind, that purpose, that pursuit is to be at first saved ourselves from our sins and then, once made right again, to go into all the world and tell those who haven’t been that they can be.

We don’t do that by becoming like the world.

We do that by remaining, thanks to His merciful grace as was given on that cross and finished in that grave, so very different from even who we used to be that it’s impossible not to see that He has indeed begun a very good work in our lives.

A work which He will carry on until its promised completion as will be met upon the day He comes back to take us home.

Unfortunately that will be the same day that He sends the majority of those around us to hell.

Why?

Because, although Heaven is massive and perfect in every way, offering the endless sum of everything that anyone could ever want or need or hope to have, find or feel, it hasn’t room for goats who know only to roam seeking always something else to consume without a care given as to what, where nor why. Heaven is rather the promise of those who exist here as but sheep who live and die determined to eat but one thing and that being the Bread of Life.

There should be a difference to be noticed between those who sup with a Shepherd Savior and those who rather clearly savor the vast array of delights and delicacies offered us all endlessly.

Yes, there are here many who are so clearly taking the devil up on the very same offer that he made to Jesus when he tempted Him for those 40 days in that desert. For many here are seeking to have all the kingdoms of this world and all the prizes and power to be found within them and all the protection that could come from signing over our souls to the enemy of life itself all so that we could live a life that sells to those who buy the same lies in their lives.

Indeed, it’s clear to see that every single day the majority of people here are roaming around sampling a little bit of this, a little bit of that, trying always to reach higher, to have more, to be so obviously independent in what are then lives in which they live in this endless selfishness seen inside their insatiable lust for living for only themselves, doing only ever whatever they want to do.

Sheep don’t do that.

Sheep follow but one leader, placing their trust, their hope, their very lives in the hands of he or she that they believe will always lead them toward that which is best for them.

They don’t get bored by the mundane. They rather glory in the opportunity to have such a simple, sustainable bounty of that which is literally all they need.

And that’s the difference, isn’t it?

Well, again, it ought to be. This is in fact why He told us that His path is both narrow and ever narrowing. It’s because the life of a follower of Christ will thin. Our interests will become self-limiting. Our desires will taper down until all we want is to be closer to Him and serve Him better. Our words will slowly stop talking about all the world wants to hear and rather say only that Christ is King and Lord of all. Our lives will become then so different from the norm that we’ll be seen as weirdos, freaks, losers who live upon the most boring and mundane of this world’s endless buffet.

Yes, we’ll be like the four who refused the king’s food and asked rather for only vegetables and water.

Why?

Because we’ll even come to realize that what we eat doesn’t really matter as food is only there to help keep us going and to give us thus the energy we need to keep on doing the few simple things that we’re still here to do.

And those simple things have nothing to do with foraging. With roaming off anymore. With being so independent that we scoff at the mere suggestion that we adhere to the guidance of another. With being so aroused by this world’s constant offer of more that we’d need to feel as if we should continue reaching higher and higher for more and more.

No, rather those simple things are only ever found in meekness, in modesty, in contentment and that in being so very different that indeed, though we’re mocked and made fun of, persecuted or perhaps even punished by those who don’t live like us, those who don’t understand us, those who don’t want us around as our narrowness of mind only ever brings them down, they’ll be forced to confess, to testify that they did see the difference in our lives.

When?

When Christ returns again.

Yes, though we needn’t their agreement that we are indeed different as He already knows those who are His from the many who will never care to be, the point is that the differences in us caused by Him should be so readily noticeable that there’s left no doubt as to the fact that we are His.

Is there?

How different does your life look from that of the world we’re in?

Does it look any different at all?

Friends, the call of the cross is to lay down the lives we’ve lived as if of the world upon our own version we carry daily. It’s to cease living this life as goats who roam around doing and eating and thinking and being only whatever they want at any given moment and to, in doing so, trade it for the existence of a sheep who exists inside an ever-narrowing simplicity in regard to everything from food to focus.

Will it seem all that fun or exciting? No. Will it gain us tons of friends, fans, followers? Probably not. Will it cause us to be seen as if losers, fools, idiots? Probably so.

It shouldn’t matter though as we all should know that this world is not our home and we’ve thus no prize here but rather one simple purpose. And that’s to know Christ Jesus, the Shepherd we trust to lead us, and then live out our lives becoming in Him so very different that, again, everyone will notice it.

Let us live to make that coming Day of Judgment so easy for He who is to judge us all that we get to the front of that line leading unto to the foot of His throne only to look up, see Him smile as He welcomes us home.

Because the only other possible outcome is one that isn’t worth even letting remain a possibility. For if we wish to go on living then it only stands to reason that we’d live this life following the One who managed to find life in death.

For everyone else will only find exactly what you’d think they would.

Friends, one day we’ll all be separated. Let’s not wait until then and in doing so make it some forced issue. Let us rather wait no longer to begin becoming different so that we can leave this world knowing the unmatched, unrivaled peace that’s found only in He who we’ve spent our lives following.

For there remains no other Name under Heaven given unto man by which we must be saved. Make it clear then that you have been saved and that by Christ and that by living what are lives that seek only to follow Him.

And that toward the only right side of eternity’s dividing line.

One cleverly disguised as gates of pearl hiding streets of gold.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold