This summer our theme in worship is “Spiritual Truths in the Code of the West.” This coming Sunday’s theme is “Know Where to Draw the Line.” Wow, this theme carries so many thoughts and meanings as I ponder it. We all draw lines.

Within society at large, to draw the line refers to the laws we create that provide stability to our social interactions. Just like the lanes on our roads, lines within society provide a sense of order for our behaviors and a means to create limits to our passions and our prejudices. Our legal libraries are filled with decisions made in our courts as an attempt to define the ever-changing relationships within society and an attempt to define in our day and age the meaning of Jesus’ second great commandment:

Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

“Know where to Draw the Line” means something different when it comes to our relationships, to me it means creating, defining, and enforcing boundaries. Every couple must determine what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior within their relationship. What might be acceptable for one may prove unacceptable to the other and vice versa. The goal (or should I say work) of the relationship is to determine where and how much the two people share that which is acceptable.

Within the family, it is the work of the parents to define and enforce behavioral boundaries. Not an easy task. The implication is that the more the parents agree on those boundaries, the easier it will be to enforce them. In like fashion, it is in the job description of the child(ren) to test those boundaries. They often do this through that ancient process of attempting to divide and conquer. Maybe this is why Wise old Solomon said:

Train up a child in the way he should go (define and enforce boundaries; even when he is old (after much testing) he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

For me, “Knowing Where to Draw the Line” is ultimately an outgrowth of an internal work deep within each person’s soul and psyche. I must be responsible for the lines I draw for me. I need to be able to clearly define for me and for others why I have drawn them where I they are. I need to know the truths upon which those lines are based. I also need to learn how to interact with others who may not have drawn lines in the same place as have I and relied upon different truths with the same or greater intensity. As a Christians the Bible is a central tool to help me know and define the lines.