Walking The Line
Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Scriptural Readings: Hosea 14:2-10; Psalm 51:3-4, 8-9; 12-13, 14+17; Matthew 10:16-23
My dear encountered couples:
“Why did you stop me, officer?” “I want you to get out of the car, sir, and walk a straight line.” That’s a common test for a policeman to give someone he suspects of driving while drunk. Walking the line can indicate the sobriety or drunkenness of the driver.
Hosea suggests walking the line of the Lord to see if we are virtuous or sinful. “Straight are the paths of the Lord,” writes Hosea, “in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.”
There are some occupations that require on-demand drug testing of its employees. A man or woman can be called off the job for a blood or urine sample that can show whether or not he and she have been indulging in drugs.
Wouldn’t it be something if it were God’s policy to interrupt our lives at any time and test the state of our souls! “Hey buddy,” calls the angel of the Lord, “stop what you’re doing and walk this straight path of the Lord. I want to see if you’ve been doing something naughty or nice.”
Wouldn’t that be a hoot? It sure would encourage us to keep on the straight and narrow, wouldn’t it? It would show immediately whether we are in the state of grace or the state of sin. But God doesn’t do that. He leaves us to examine ourselves, we are to take time out, maybe before bed at night, to see if we’ve swayed any while trying to walk on the path of the Lord during the day.
“Straight are the paths of the Lord,” writes Hosea, “in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.”
