On the Level

Every summer for the past nine or ten, I've gone to this big Christian music festival in the sprawling metropolis of Bushnell, Illinois called Cornerstone. If you're not familiar with Cornerstone, it's a week of camping, Christian music, and seminars. It's always a great time, and it's one of the highlights of my year.

There are lots of folks at Cornerstone that don't really have the camping thing figured out. Sleeping in the back seat of your car and eating cold SphagettiO's for every meal is NOT camping. And duct taping a tarp to some trees to make a "tent" doesn't cut the mustard either. Sorry. 

Fortunately, whenever we go to Cornerstone, we always go with this guy named Fred, who's the closest thing to a professional camper I can think of. He's got more camping stuff than I have stuff in general, and he brings most of it with him whenever we go to Cornerstone. 

Between his trailer and his work truck, Fred has just about everything we need to set up a class A, top-notch campsite. He's got a weed whacker so we can clear away the high grass and a chainsaw so we can make wood for our campfire. He's got sleeping bags, tents, tables, chairs, silverware, pots and pans---you name it, and he probably has it.

One of the most important things that Fred brings along every year isn't something you'd normally expect to see at a campsite. Every year, we always bring at least one level along. You know, a level. Like the kind a carpenter uses.

There's a good reason we always bring a level with---I promise. The campsite that we take every year is a really nice spot. There are three huge oak trees that give us shade 24/7 and since it's off the beaten path, it's relatively quiet too. Here's the hitch: the campsite is on the side of a big hill.

I could tell you all about how steep the hill is. I could tell you that from the top of our campsite to the bottom, there's a sixteen foot vertical drop. I could tell you that the hill has a 15% grade. I could tell you that at the edge of our campsite, the hill gets even steeper and drops off into a gully. But a picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words:

Hopefully, this helps you get a feel for the kind of steep I'm talking about. The shelter (and Fred's van) both look like they're about to roll down the hill! We've never had either of those things happen. Not yet, anyway.

After seeing the picture and hearing about the hill, I think you can probably understand why we bring a level every year. It's awfully hard to cook, eat, or play cards when the table you're using is on the same incline as the hill. Every year, we'll dig in the uphill ends of every table and shim up the downhill ends to level them out.

If you're wondering why we don't just eyeball things, check this picture out:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the "shim" under the right end of the table is about a foot tall. If you stand at the uphill end of the table, it's level with your waist. If you stand at the downhill end, it's level with your chest. Did I mention that this hill is steep?

The reason we can't just eyeball the tables is that because the hill is so steep, things look downright goofy when they're actually level. The incline of the hill makes things that are level look tilted and makes things that are not level look fine. 

Every year, we shim up the table in the picture and we say, "There's no way that table is level. It looks crooked! It doesn't even look close to being level!" And every year, we'll take out the level, and the table ends up being right on the bubble. At that point, someone will usually make a comment about how steep the hill is.

And everyone else will agree, because the hill is really steep. I mentioned that, right?

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Certain things are difficult to accomplish without some sort of standard. Weighing an object would be hard to do without a scale, and measuring a distance would be nearly impossible without some standard of length. And as I mentioned earlier, it's hard to level tables on a steep hill unless you actually have a level.

The reason that having standards is so important is that by nature, humans really aren't all that good at eyeballing things. If you've ever looked at a book of optical illusions, you'll know that it doesn't take much to fool the human eye. A steep hill may throw off your perception of what's level. A large object might look a lot heavier than it actually is, simply because it's large.

As humans, our perception of various measurements isn't very good, so it's a good thing that we have standards of time, distance, and weight that we can rely on instead. As Christians, our perception of the world around us can be poor as well.

The world we live in is full of temptations and potential hang-ups, and there are lots of so-called "gray areas." Life can get very confusing at times. Some people may claim a certain action is wrong, while other folks might say that it's OK. Your friends and your parents may have different views of right and wrong.

With a world that's in constant moral upheaval, our perception can (and often will) fail us. Just as it's hard to level a table against the deceptive background of a steep hill, it's difficult to determine right from wrong against the deceptive background of the world around us.

In my story, the only way we were able to level the table was with a level---a standard. As Christians, we too need some sort of standard---something that's more certain than our flawed sense of judgment. 

Fortunately, God gave us His standard, and there's nothing in the world that's more certain than that. The Bible contains the very words of God Himself and is useful for teaching us how to properly live (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). In the book of Psalms, David says that God's Word should be a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path (Psalm 119:105).

The Bible is full of good moral standards. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. If you look past all the "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots," you'll realize (hopefully) that it's really a practical set of rules. Most everyone---Christian or not---would agree that murdering people and stealing stuff is wrong. 

Jesus elaborates on the Ten Commandments in His Sermon on the Mount, which can be found in Matthew 5-7. In addition to clarifying some of the commandments, Jesus also teaches about things like judging others, prayer, fasting, giving to the poor, and divorce.

While the Bible addresses lots of common moral issues directly, there are inevitably some things that didn't get mentioned. There's no verse in the Bible that talks about what movies are okay to watch, because there weren't movies (not even VHS tapes) in Jesus' day.

Thankfully, God was thinking ahead. Instead of making the Bible an exhaustive list of rules that covers every single moral question conceivable, He included this verse:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

If there's ever any moral issue that the Bible doesn't address directly, this verse covers it. If something isn't true, honorable, just, pure, or commendable, then we as Christians have no business associating with it.

God gave us His Word for a reason. He knew that as sinful creatures, we would have trouble discerning right from wrong, and He gave us His moral standard so that we could build our lives upon it. If you're ever unsure about the morality of something, don't rely on your own judgment---rely on God's Word.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5, 6 (NIV)