We live in an unstable age in many respects. The radicalism of some and the modernism of others has created such divergence, such division, each in its own way, that a vast majority of people find themselves drifting somewhere in the sea between the two extremes.
That they have chosen to avoid the extremes is important. They recognize the error of abandoning divine authority, Matthew 16:19; Colossians 3:17, and they shrink at the possibility of reacting to the other extreme of enforcing mere opinion, Matthew 15:9.
Unfortunately, knowing the opposites they wish to avoid has not provided them the doctrinal stability they crave. Rather, they drift along, a bit unsure of themselves outside of knowing what shores to avoid. That sea can be a dangerous place. If people simply drift with the tide or go with the wind, they will find an easier time, even hinting at a sense of tranquility, yet they are moving in a direction determined by another and therefore are slaves to the elements.
Before his death, Joshua told Israel,
“Be ye very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.” Joshua 23:6
Achieving the proper spiritual balance is no easy task. It takes courage, strength of will, energy and effort, discernment and wisdom, and most of all a studied knowledge of what God has said, Acts 17:11. This is the chain that holds us fast to the anchor of the soul, Hebrews 6:19.
Israel thought they knew where they were going. After all, they were physically in Canaan. Joshua had seen to that. However, they failed to anchor themselves spiritually and drifted with the culture toward a perverted form of what God had given them, Judges 17:11-13, Galatians 1:6-9.
They exhibited the most dangerous form of ignorance – they did not know what they did not know. And, that is what ultimately ruined them, destroyed them spiritually, Hosea 4:6-7. Their lives reflected their ignorance and their culture instead of God’s will, and so they drifted farther, all the time thinking that the Lord was pleased and surprised whenever someone should indicate otherwise.
Many people in the church today are actively questioning and searching. Some have abandoned radicalism; others are coming back from modernism. Regardless, if they are to become something other than a statistic of those spiritually adrift, we must help them find the anchor of hope provided by Jesus Christ by turning them to God’s Word, and we must determine to hold fast to our Lord. And remember—it is accomplished by turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, in doctrine or practice that we might be able to help others who are also searching.
