A Ditch on Both Sides

A common problem with humanity is our lack of ability to “keep in the middle of the road.” While some might call this a call to compromise, it’s really a call to balance. This biblical principle, I have at times said, is the most important of biblical principles. We must remember that there is a ditch on both sides of the road of life. And these ditches are there for every issue related to our lives.

For instance, the topic of Christian liberty comes to mind. On the road are standards and liberty. In the ditch on one side is legalism. On the other side is licentiousness. Legalism is not only the problem of trusting in works to gain salvation. Legalism is also trusting in works to gain sanctification or Christian growth. This is clear (to me at least) from Galatians 3:3. Some Christians trust in the fact of their high standards for proof of their spirituality. These Christians are in the ditch on the “right” side of the road. And it’s not a comfortable place to be. When you’re in that ditch, Christianity is a life of pressure: always trying to keep the right rules, do the right thing, even measure up to the “spirituality” of some other “SuperChristian.” It is not the life of full release and liberty in Christ. In the ditch on the other side of the road is a licentious Christian. This Christian takes too many freedoms with his Christian liberty and ends up bound by snares and sin in the “left-hand” ditch. This is also no place for a Christian. While he may not feel pressure to “do right,” he also experiences no liberty in Christ: he is still (or is again) bound by the sins that Christ died to free him from. This issue (along with most others) is not just a problem for individuals. Churches teach and lead Christians down the road or through one of the ditches.

Another issue is the contrast of love and discipline in child rearing. Both are on the road of the Christian life, but there’s a ditch on both sides of that road also. The ditch on the “left” indulges the child because of love. The ditch on the “right” says, “I express my love when I’m spanking you.” Both are ditches. Children need discipling, but only in the context of love. Children need love, but a child left to himself, brings his mother shame. Parents should consistently discipline their children. But they should never think that consistent discipline is sufficient love.

I believe that this “ditch on both sides of the road” idea is what must be remembered whenever we see someone who tries to reduce Christianity to one overriding scheme. Personally, I believe this can “sort of” work for the individual that discovers that in his own life. Someone says, “If I make sure I’m a soul-winner, all the rest will work out.” Fair enough. You must be right with God, in order to see His blessing on your witnessing efforts and also in order to be an ambassador of the King. Someone else says, “The Bible teaches these objective standards, if I keep them, I’ll be happy in Christ.” Also, fair — supposing he doesn’t depend on those standards for his spirituality. Someone else says, “If I delight in God, I’ll truly please Him.” This is also fair. The reason these are all “fair enough,” is because we realize that there really is more to Chritianity than the simple reduction, and the person who has “discovered” the reduction knows this also.

The problem comes when we try to pass this reduction on to another generation of Christians. The heart of the manner of life we espouse gets left out and the followers only see and do the externals. They then end up in the ditch. The soul-winner concentrates so much on the externals of winning souls that he will do anything to get someone to say a prayer and then get baptized. Further, he begins to think that nothing else is important as long as he “wins” souls. His family can fall apart; he can have no love for God; and he can excuse it all because he has seen 5,000 souls “saved” in the last year. The same is true for someone who reduces Christianity to standards. He concentrates on these so much that he gains spirituality from keeping rules. Whenever he notices something he doesn’t think is right, he makes another rule. If he is trying to avoid worldliness, then a certain style will be defined as worldly. Then anytime anyone has their hair parted “down the middle” they are condemned as worldly. I’m not trying to say that everything goes. What I’m saying is that the person who reduces Christianity to standards doesn’t recognize when someone with their hair parted “down the middle” is not being worldly. Likewise, the delighter. He concentrates so much on delighting and feeling good in his spirituality that he neglects principles and truths that good Christians can’t forget and still be happy in Christ. I can’t comment on the particulars of this type of reduction, but I know it must be true. The principle holds true in the reductions (soul-winning, standards) that I am familiar with.

The point of this long post about ditches is: keep in the middle of the road!