Middleness

Standing in the middle of anything can sometimes be a dangerous place.  Choosing middle ground might work well in some cases, but often neutrality isn't a trait to be admired...it is just choosing not to choose at all.  I was watching a documentary the other night...the other sleepless night...when a statement yelled at me through the television. "To stand in the middle of right and wrong is to stand with the wrong". That caught my attention for a while.
I grabbed my pen and notebook and pursued this subject of middleness, mainly because I have been dealing with some issues of my own.  Jesus said He would rather we were hot or cold than lukewarm. He spews lukewarm away from Himself.
Revelation 3:15-16  "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." 
Have you every met someone in the middle in order to compromise on a given subject? Have you ever refused to compromise when asked?  Standing for right with the best intentions sometimes feels like standing in the middle.  Can a heart ever cross the line for the sake of another?  Surely that line is blurred at times. When those we love choose paths that lead them beyond the boundaries of what is right, does goodness never step over to follow or woo?  How far?
Sometimes I can't see the line.  It grieves me to stand and watch while another runs so unaware from a Love that is only good, right, and pure.  Does love ever breach borders? ARE there any borders in love?  Surely Love has no limits and reaches far beyond man's ability to outrun it.
O Lord, stretch out Your loving hand to hinder the one who vies so desperately to escape Your grasp. Save us from ourselves and our poor choices and misdirected pursuits.  Break our hardened hearts.
May the things that entice us to run to the middle lose their flavor and beauty, causing us to return to to find our greatest pleasure in pleasing You.
May Your unseen hand be at work and may none of Your gifts escape Your call on their hearts leading to salvation.  Love does cross borders - unmarred and unhindered and often unseen.  While my feet remain planted firmly in solid ground with no sway or bend in root, let my love go out to the wanderer. May I stand strong in truth with an allegiance to a greater Love than the one manifested by mere man.  It is to this Love that surrender must fly.
With every blow designed to hinder its very existence, love grows stronger.  With every arrow intended to stifle, it springs forth with renewed vigor.  I can't understand it.  Where darkness took its stand, Love invaded, deeper and stronger than ever.
Jeremiah 17:7-8  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.  8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." 
James 5:19 -  My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.  
Love the wanderer to the Lord. It is love that wins over middle ground.