I recently finished the book of Judges in my year-long journey to read through the entire Bible.

It’s amazing to read how, after only one generation past Joshua, the people had already turned away from God. No surprise, bad stuff happened.

A phrase that kept coming up in the latter chapters of Judges made me take pause:

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

The book even ends with that sentence after one of the tribes of Israel was almost completely eliminated by another tribe.

While reading through all the violence and evil that is the book of Judges, I was praying and trying to find how this can apply to me today.  And I felt like God was showing me that, regardless of the times, people are sinful and need a Savior.

Today, if people have no King (in Jesus), they will do as they see fit. If someone does not know Christ, we can’t expect them to act like someone who does. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to change them and make them a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

However, the flip side of that is that as a Christ follower I should live in a way that shows I do have a King and want to do as He sees fit. In Judges, because a few people were a law unto themselves, many more people were killed because of it. As a husband, dad, church leader, it is important to keep my focus on Jesus first because my sin can certainly make those close to me collateral damage.

At CrossPoint, we’ve talked about drawing that line in our decision-making process. Some toe the line. They are just one miss-step away from falling over it. The wise decision is to stay as far away from the line as you can so that a miss-step doesn’t even approach the line at all. That’s where I choose to live with God’s help and help from those who keep me accountable.