Grey Areas and Little White Fences
In our last message series at BVC, “Testing the Limits,” we talked about how we as Christians struggle with ‘fences.’ Wow, what a difficult series—and so I had a few more thoughts I wanted to add to our discussion. Think of it like this: In our day-to-day world, a fence is a marker or barrier that separates two different places. When we become a follower of Jesus, we start to be aware that there are things we shouldn’t do, and things that maybe we should start doing if we love God. We begin to see two different places: areas outside of God’s plan for our lives (where we are in disobedience), and areas within God’s plan for our lives (where we are faithful). When we study the Bible, pray, and seek God’s will, we sense where these markers are—the ‘fences’ that God says, “Don’t cross,” because if we do we enter into an area outside of God’s plan for us. These fences are helpful because they show us where the line is between God’s plan for us and our own self-centered desires (sin). The problem is that once we have been a Christian for a while, we actually get comfortable with many of these smaller fences—I know I do—and even though we may not cross one of these fences, we can live our lives right up against them very comfortably. In fact, against our own best interests, we test the limits that God has set for us with these fences.
Some of the fences that God says, “Don’t cross,” are big and obvious, such as idolatry (Galatians 5:17). If the Bible addresses an issue at all, it’s a big fence that we cross at our peril. So, if we build an idol and worship it, this is a huge (and deadly) fence for us to cross. Snuggling up to this fence is a bad move as well, because at best we are keeping God at a distance and worse just putting us an inch away from being outside of God’s will. Anything the Bible mentions is a big fence.
But many of the fences that God doesn’t want us to cross are less obvious. These little white fences seem innocent enough, but crossing them moves us into an area outside of God’s will. Like little white lies, little white fences that we cross start adding up in limiting our relationship with God—not to mention our abundant life here on Earth and our service for the Kingdom. But the problem is that we often have a hard time telling the difference between little white fences and grey areas (areas that are ok by God’s will). For example, if I lie to a dying person that they will get well, am I crossing a little white fence (because I am speaking untruthfully), or is this a grey area (ok by God)? If I download copyrighted music from the internet, is this a little white fence or a grey area? If I find a loophole when I file my taxes, is this a little white fence or a grey area?
How do we determine if something is a little white fence or not?
The Bible doesn’t really mention little white fences per se. Romans 14 is probably the best example of a little white fence issue, though it is rooted in a specific problem in the early church. Based on this passage and few others, we can say this:
* If something bothers us at all, it’s probably a little white fence.
* If it bothers other people around us, it’s also probably a little white fence.
* If you can do (or not do) something and have peace in your spirit about it—even if it’s a hard decision—it’s probably a grey area.
One of the greatest challenges in faithfully following Jesus is to be able to see the little white fences that are holding us back from greater relationship with God–and not just dismissing them as grey areas.
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“Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. But if you have doubts about whether or not you should [do or not do] something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.” Romans 14:22–23
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