photo #4618634

"The Thing About Walls""Something there is that doesn't love a wall..."I thought of that phrase while reading a piece by a man who was doing his best to tear down a wall God had put up. He was twisting Scripture and reading between the lines and flat making stuff up in his effort to prove that God is not opposed to sex outside of marriage. In his hands the Bible was putty--a wax nose, and he was shaping it the way he wanted it to look. What he didn’t realize is that God is a loving father who put walls into place to protect his children; they're the "thou shalt nots" of the Bible. They aren't arbitrary or capricious. They serve a good purpose, just as a fence across the doorway to the basement is not intended to frustrate the toddler but protect him from grave injury. Some of these walls get in the way of our desires, and like the guy I mentioned, we try to tear them down—“But we love each other and we're committed to each other and we're planning to get married anyway so how could it be wrong.”Then, too, only do God's walls protect us from harm, they reveal our hearts--even to the point of showing whether or not we are believers or not: "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." (1 John 2:3).I trust the Holy Spirit will bring this little discussion to mind the next time you start saying, "I know what the Bible says, but..."