The Amish Voice 10
―They think they’re the
only ones up here‖
A young man died and went to Heaven.
He had only recently become a Chris-
tian, but not a member of any particular
church, so St. Peter showed him around
the heavenly mansion. In one room
were people sitting in quiet prayer.
These were the Quakers. Down the hall
were people shouting in every lan-
guage. These were the Pentecostals.
On and on they went until Peter sud-
denly held his finger to his lips, and
said Shhhh,“we have to be very quiet
going by this room.” “Why? the young
man asked.” Because, said Peter,
“These are the Baptists, and they think
they‟re the only ones up here.”
Now, I pick on Baptists but you can put hun-
dreds of other [denomination] names in their
place.
Christians of all backgrounds and cultures
draw lines in the sand
, and say, “this is who
we are. If you want to join our group, you
have to get behind this line and become like
one of us.”
1. You have to look like us
2. You have to act like us
3. You have to speak like us
4. You have to, you have to, you have to…
The list goes on and on. In fact, is it not true
that some church flavors carry such a large
list of do’s and don'ts that even Jesus would-
n't fit in.
Yes, we ALL do it. We are ALL guilty of
drawing lines in the sand
and putting up
walls.
Than we stand back and point our fingers at
others and say, “hey, don't you know your
line is too far back? Too far down? Too far
up? Too wide? Too steep? Too short? Now,
come on, how could you NOT know you are
so far off? — move it closer to my line or
we’ll break ties with you.”
And you! Over there! The one that just
jumped over the line. Come back here and
get behind the sand line you were born into.
Don't you know you could die and go to
hell?
Some other things that come to mind:
Don't you know God put you behind the
best
line in the sand
in the world?
Don't you know, young man or woman,
if God would have wanted you over
there behind that other
line of sand
, He
would have placed you there when you
were born.
It must tear the Lord’s heart apart! When are
we going to repent and get rid of our man
made, stubborn, pride filled
lines in the
sand
?
While the world is falling apart and good
people are going to hell, we are fighting on
whose
line in the sand is
more correct.
Do you ever wonder how many more people
would be in heaven, if only Christianity was
less confusing and more oneness? Possibly
millions?
Jesus, when He prayed His lonest prayer in
the Bible, prayed twice in three verses:
“Father, please help them [Christians] to be
ONE as we are ONE, so that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me.”
John 17:21-23
That they all may be ONE; as thou, Fa-
ther, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be ONE in us:
that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me
. And
the glory which thou gavest me I have
given them; that they may be ONE, even
as we are ONE: I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in
ONE; and
that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them,
as thou hast loved me.
As you consider the many thousands of
lines
in the sand
; can you now also see why the
world has chosen to turn their back on Jesus?
It should cause us to weep bitterly and cry
out to the Lord for forgiveness. Instead,
many of us continue to hold on as if heaven
depended on us.
I wonder if the Apostle Paul would compare
us to the church at Corinth, when he said:
1 Corinthians 3:3-4
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there
is among you envying, and strife, and
divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk
as men?
For while one saith, I am of
Paul; and another, I am of Apollos;
are ye not carnal?
The word
carnal
means fleshly or worldly
minded. In other words, the Corinthians were
so caught up in themselves and who they
belonged to that they forgot the simple and
most important fact, and that is, it is all about
God; not us.
Just a few verses later, Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 3:11
For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Meaning, there is only one
line in the sand
.
No, it’s not mine, nor is it yours. It is the line
that Jesus Christ drew. All other lines
(foundations) are weak, man made and
worldly; they will not stand up against the
storms of life.
1. Our
lines in the sand
will come and go.
They will blow over and change from one
group to another.
2. Our
lines in the sand
will only cause
division, jealousy, pride, bitterness, self
righteousness and depression.
3. Our
lines in the sand
cannot give ever-
lasting life. In fact, they snuff it out and
cause the world to look at us and say,
“why should I join them?”
I truly believe that as the persecution of
Christians becomes greater, many of us will
start crossing over our lines and come to-
gether for support.
What once seemed important in our life is all
of a sudden going to seem childish and total-
ly ridiculous. We will wonder, “how on earth
could I have allowed such a crazy thing to
keep me from fellowshipping with another
born again Christian.”
I have no doubt in my mind that God will
judge us drawing
lines in the sand
. It is a
serious matter, my friend.
Colossians 2:20-23
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from
the rudiments of the world, why, as
though living in the world, are ye subject
to ordinances, [such as…] (Touch not;
taste not; handle not; Which all are to
perish with the using;) after the com-
mandments and doctrines of men? Which
things have indeed a appearance of wis-
dom with their self imposed worship;
their false humility, and harsh treatment
of the body; but they are of no value
against the indulgence of the flesh.
Drawing Lines in the Sand
—by Joe Keim