Walk the Line
Hopefully your days of having to perform the ‘walk the line’ procedure are behind you. Often drivers who seem to be experiencing difficulties operating their vehicle between the lines are hauled over by the police. A straight line is marked on the road and the driver is given these instructions:
“When told to begin you will walk nine heel to toe steps, turn, and take nine heel to toe steps back; During the turn keep your front foot on the line, and execute the turn by taking a series of small steps with your other foot; While walking, keep your arms at your sides, watch your feet at all times and count out loud each step; Do not stop until you have finished the test.”
Did you know there is such a test for Christians too? There is no line straighter than the ‘truth line’ and we are required to walk it heel to toe and step by step without any swerving, straying or deviations.
The Apostle John was quite old at the time. Picture this: old John welcomes the Christian brothers into his room and then asks them about their travels.
“Brother John, you’ll be happy to know we dropped in to see your good friend Gaius and he’s simply amazing. We were so encouraged by our visit with him. He couldn’t have been more hospitable and kind to us. He is living just as you would expect a Christian would live. He’s a Christian who is walking the talk and toeing the line; he is just so happy despite all his adverse circumstances.”
Old John is thrilled about the good report; so he sits down and writes a letter to Gaius. One of the paragraphs in the short little letter goes like this:
For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came
and testified to your truth,
as indeed you are walking in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3John 1:3-4
How am I walking? Am I swerving some just now? Am I walking heel to toe in step with the Word of God or am I making some choices that may cause my walk as a Christian to become sloppy with deviations? Am I making decisions to swerve from the truth that may cause my children to deviate even more?
Are you looking for the line of truth when you read your Bible every day? And then do you look at your own life and make the necessary adjustments to ensure you are walking in the truth?
Walking in the truth is not optional. It is God’s requirement for every Christian. To walk off the line of truth is a path of disobedience and failure.
Walking in the truth is a clearer expression than walking in the old paths. We know what people mean when they use that expression from Jeremiah 6, but people’s interpretation and nostalgic recollections of the old paths can be subjective and faulty. There is nothing subjective about ‘the truth’. There is no wiggle room when it comes to the truth. The Word of God must be my final authority – it is The Truth.
The Apostle John may have had the joy of seeing Gaius saved – won to Christ. He calls him his spiritual ‘child’. It is one thing to see a person saved but quite another thing to see them progressing as a believer, obeying the Lord and walking in the truth. It’s no wonder that John was over-the-top with joy when he heard that Gaius was demonstrating the truth in shoe leather.
How about you? How does your behaviour line up with your beliefs? Are you walking the line? Will you pass the test?
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