The Best Off Fence

Hello All,

If you’re anything like me, you’re excited that the best time of the year has just begun. FOOTBALL SEASON!!!! The thrill of watching two opponents comprised of gladiators! Men, larger than life, ready , willing and able to expend phenomenal strength and skill to ….Okay, if you really know me, you know I’m lying. You could never confuse me with being a sports fanatic. Come to think of it, I have never even been much of a fan. Not that I have anything against it, I just haven’t found the time. Sorry. Actually, I thought of the title and it just seemed to go well with football season, so I picked it up and ran with it :) Forgive me please. I want to talk less about the end zone and more about the comfort zone. We all have them. Sadly it’s a place where sin finds itself protected, justified and made more acceptable in light of larger sins that we may (or may not) have committed. It doesn’t matter; we’ll do whatever we think is necessary to keep it.

As I try to think of the next line to write, a book title keeps coming to mind; My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Sounds a little fanatic right? Do we think that God deserves anything less than our 'utmost'? Interestingly enough, it’s not about what we think – HE doesn’t think so.

Here’s The Word;

Revelation 3:15-17 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

This is a common verse we use for “fence riders”. Those of us who have a hard time pressing ahead because we’ve gotten too fond of the comforts of things we need to leave behind. Too often we end up riding the fence because we believe there’s a such thing as too much righteousness. We don’t want our light to blind the world we’re trying to influence. How can that concern be a bad thing? Well, I don’t believe in too much righteousness. Too much “holiness”, maybe: If the goal of your holiness is to shine brighter so you can look down on commoners, then most definitely. We can NEVER dismiss that even the good that we’re “becoming” comes from above and doesn’t originate in us. If your concern is balance, I’m sure that we can trust that a Loving God Who’s able to save us and keep us, can also keep us off the fence AND relevant to those who need Him as well. So step up your game.

Here’s The Word;

Isaiah 44:22 I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

Ezekiel 37:23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

As many highlights of athletic awesomeness that a network can instantly replay, I don’t see how any of it can compare to that. And for a Holy, Sovereign God Who would love us enough to do that; I’m a fan for life.
At the end of the day, a ‘fanatical’ life is all about getting off the fence and pressing towards goal of obedience.
Obedience is the best off fence

In Him,
Cros