From my youngest memories I can remember 'living' on the edge. It started with my Mom saying don't touch the cookies. And I would see just how close I could get without touching them. Or she would say, "Don't leave the yard". I, of course, would see just how close I could get to the edge.
Now, to move that to more current times. Maybe it is a speed limit. I know will travel as fast as I think I can go without a ticket. Of course, we all know that I would never exceed the speed limit(disclaimer in case the police read my BLOG). Financially, we know how much we make and we will always tend to spend as close to that amount as possible. It is human nature after all.
God puts limits on us through scripture and the teachings of the church. These limits are put there for our own good. The same can be said for the rules and limits imposed on us by our parents. We may not like them but they are put there for our good. History has shown us that people will always push the limits. If they didn't, we wouldn't have any needs for our court system or lawyers. The challenge we have then is living within the limits and not try to push them with loose interpretations or rationalizations. "But everyone does it" is not a good excuse.
This is especially hard today from a moral standpoint. In the 60's, TV would not ever show, even a married couple, in the bedroom together. When there bedroom was shown they each had a twin bed. Today, however, because we have continually pushed the limits the social norms have been re-written. What is commonplace on TV now would have been considered X-rated 50 years ago. This presents a very real dilemma for those of us trying to live a moral and christian life. We may be able to say we have not sinned from a legalistic standpoint but we have probably pushed as close to the edge as we can get with actually sinning. What makes this especially dangerous is that the edge keeps moving farther and farther away.
