Two Guardrails

You need two guard rails to keep you out of the ditch.

Guard rails are simply principled reasons drawn from Scripture to avoid excesses.

The RELAXED BRETHREN have erected a guard rail on the right-hand side of the theological highway. This serves to keep them from legalism.

The RIGID BRETHREN are equally cautious, only in the opposite direction. They have planted a strong guard rail on the left-hand to guard against compromise and error.

Unbiblical extremes are inevitable without both of these two important guardrails. You always fall the way you lean. Legalism is no better than looseness. The “highway of holiness” allows no place for excess, in either direction. Boundaries prevent bondage, so we need protection on both sides.

A right-wing guardrail is found in Proverbs 30:6; “Add not to his words…”. Adding to God’s words is just as serious as ignoring them. The Pharisees elevated their traditions by proclaiming them as the commandments of God (Mark 7:8). Their man-made rules were portrayed as non-negotiable expressions of truth. But cultural preferences, religious traditions, and biases are NOT Biblical absolutes. But when they are proclaimed as such, great damage is done to the Kingdom. Spiritual equilibrium is maintained only by standing firm on the essentials, while refusing to absolutize secondary matters. Great care is required to distinguish principles from preferences.

Revelation 22:19 is the guardrail for the left-hand side of the road—“If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.” When churches refuse to implement Biblical moral order within their congregations, they commit treason by repudiating God’s unchanging principles. The looseness in many American Churches is a slander on God’s holiness. All accommodation to an immoral culture takes a heavy toll, because it devalues doctrine while destroying the church’s testimony.

It is a serious business to “take away”, or “add to” God’s commands. The net result is that God’s absolutes are obliterated by either extreme. Excising (cutting out) or imposing (adding to) God’s Word is equally destructive.

Truth is always the loser when over-the-top rules, reactions, positions, and neglect go uncontested. Fidelity to Christ’s truth is forfeited by straying beyond biblical boundaries. God’s principles are not Fluid. They are Fixed expressions of His holy character.

Some are highly bothered, and others are nonchalant, about left or right-wing excesses. Make certain you establish guardrails on the left and the right. Without both, you will fall into one of two ditches which are already crowded with multitudes who refused to walk within the biblical fences. Having dual guardrails is not a good recommendation or the preferred option, it is required. Our convictions and behaviors must be governed by principled reasons distilled from God’s Word.

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