We enjoy safe roads and drivers who operate their vehicles with due care and attention. Standard Field Sobriety Tests are used by police to determine the likelihood of impairment or driving under the influence. Spiritually, there is a very reliable road test to determine deviations and influences along the Christian pathway.
Safety violations are not only a threat to the offending driver but can be a major hazard to others. If a driver is suspected of impairment, the lights of the police cruiser begin to flash as the offending vehicle comes to a stop on the shoulder of the road. The clues could have been erratic driving, failure to adhere to the lines of the road, or generally driving without due care and attention.
One of three well-known roadside safety tests (SFST)is the driver’s ability to walk a straight line on the side of the road. A straight line is marked on the road, and the driver is given these instructions:
"When told to begin, you will walk nine heel-to-toe steps, turn, and take nine heel-to-toe steps back. Keep your front foot on the line during the turn, and execute the turn by taking a series of small steps with your other foot. While walking, keep your arms at your sides, watch your feet at all times and count out loud each step. Do not stop until you have finished the test."
Did you know there is such a test for Christians, too? There is no line straighter than the ‘truth line,’ and we are required to walk it heel-to-toe, step-by-step, without any swerving, straying or deviations.
The Apostle John was an older man when he wrote Gaius in what is known as his third epistle. Let’s try to imagine the background of the letter and what prompted John to write Gaius:
Dear old John welcomes the Christian brothers into his room and then asks them about their recent travels.
"Brother John, you'll be happy to know we dropped in to see your good friend Gaius, who's simply amazing. We were so encouraged by our visit with him. He couldn't have been more hospitable and kind to us. He is living just as you would expect a Christian would live. He's a Christian walking the talk and toeing the line. He is just so happy in Christ with such a positive attitude despite all his adverse circumstances."
Old John is thrilled to hear the good report. He sits down and writes a letter to Gaius. One of the paragraphs in the short letter goes like this:
For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3John 3-4
How am I walking? Am I swerving some just now? Am I walking heel-to-toe in step with the Word of God or am I deviating from the line of truth by some of the choices I am making? Am I operating with or without due care and attention? Am I operating as a believer under-the-influence? And if so, can I identify the influencer or the source of the influence?
Have you ever looked at a graph and observed where such a deviation might take you if your course is not corrected and realigned with the truth? And, perhaps more worrisome, where it might lead your children?
Am I looking for the line of truth when I read my Bible every day? (2 Timothy 2:15) And then, do I look at my own life and make the necessary adjustments to ensure I am walking in the truth?
Walking in the truth is not optional. It is God’s requirement for every Christian. To deviate from the line of truth is a path of disobedience and failure.
Walking in the truth resonates with our hearts better today than the term old paths taken from Jeremiah 6. Why is that? Too often, the latter term has been misused by those seeking to enforce practices, preferences and traditions of men rather than being rooted in the Word of God. There is nothing subjective about ‘the truth’. There is no wiggle room when it comes to the truth. The Word of God must be my final authority – it is The Truth.
The Apostle John may have had the joy of seeing Gaius saved – won to Christ. He calls him his spiritual ‘child’. It is one thing to see a person saved but quite another thing to see them progress as believers, obeying the Lord and walking in the truth. It’s no wonder that John was over-the-top with joy when he heard that Gaius was demonstrating the truth in shoe leather.
How am I doing? How does my behaviour line up with my beliefs? What about you? Are you walking the line? Will you pass the Christian road test?
