Yellow Line Living

Scripture: Psalm 1; Isaiah 35:8-10; Colossians 3:1-17

Theme: Walking in Christ

Title: Yellow Line Living

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

I want to talk to you today about Yellow Line Living.

Think for a moment about that yellow line that you see painted down the center of most highways. It’s the one that helps us understand what our boundaries are as we travel down the highway. We know that we are restricted to driving on the right side of that line (in the USA) as we go travel down the highway.1

We also know that oncoming traffic is restricted to staying on their side of the line. And when everyone takes heed to those restrictions and boundaries then we can easily share the whole road without incident. We do it every day without much thought.

But what do you think would happen if there was no yellow line?

What happens at times when people disobey that yellow line?

We all know what happens. Accidents can happen. People can get hurt. People can even lose their lives because someone has decided to create their own restrictions and boundaries.

But what about the yellow lines in our Christian walk?

Do they exist?

Do we need them?

That is what I want to share with you this morning. We’ll call it Yellow Line Christian Living.

There are some things that we can do to make our Christian walk more enjoyable. There are some things that if we do them then we will find ourselves living in God’s safe zones and enjoying our walk with the LORD even more than we ever thought possible.

I. Learn God’s Instructions – Read His Book

Let’s look at Psalm chapter one for example. It is an amazing Psalm. It sets the tenor for the book of Psalms. As you read it and allow its words to penetrate your heart, mind and soul you realize that it contains some wonderful instructions on how we can live a life on the right side of the line of righteousness.

In many ways Psalm 1 could be called a Preventative Psalm. The advice it gives is to help us keep ourselves away from influences and situations that could cause us to fall and commit sin. It provides for us some ways for us not to inappropriately cross the yellow line of righteousness so to speak.

It is similar to taking the annual flu shot. Each year the CDC (Center of Disease Control) does everything it can to motivate people to take the flu shot.

They do that because the flu is potentially an extremely dangerous disease. Each year millions of people in our country get the flu. Hundreds of thousands have to be hospitalized and sadly tens of thousands die each year because of the flu.2

When we look at those numbers you can see that the flu is no laughing matter. Getting a flu shot is a very smart thing to do for yourself, for your family and for your community.

About 160 million people in the US get an annual flu shot. That is less than 50% of our population. This year the CDC is hoping that number tops 200 million. The whole idea behind the flu shot is to help people either not get the flu or to help them be able to get over the flu much easier.

It’s a preventative measure. But it is not automatic. You can’t get the flu shot and then be immediately immune to the flu. Scientists and doctors tell us that on average it takes about two weeks after you get the flu shot for the right antibodies to develop in our bodies that will provide the protection that we need.

Psalm 1 is very much the same way. It is a preventative psalm. If we put its words into action in our lives then we will find ourselves increasing staying on the right side of righteousness. We will find ourselves being on the right side of the Yellow Line of Holiness so to speak.

While the flu is dangerous we need to understand that sin is even more dangerous. Sin is a killer of the heart, mind and soul. That is why we need to commit passages of Scripture like Psalm 1 to heart.

How many people do you know found themselves in trouble because they listened to the wrong advice?

How many people do you know found themselves in trouble because they kept company with the wrong people?

How many people do you know found their hearts, minds and souls being changed because they began listening and agreeing with the wrong words and ideas? The more they listened the more they agreed and before they knew it their hearts, minds and souls were transformed for the worst.