Boundaries have consequences.

Watch your step and who you step with.

The yellow and black tape at a traffic accident, road hazard or crime scene is generally associated with one word—caution. It’s for your own good to watch your step to avoid danger. But yellow and black tape can also be associated with another word—circumspection—to move carefully toward something or someone that is safe and a service to others. The path to a good space is ladened with boundaries that bring you closer to God.

EXPOSITION: The Hebrew word Kodesh –holy—can be seen, in a way, as yellow and black tape directing you to walk carefully.  Nearness to God demands distance from people and places which are worldly, ungodly, unclean. Goodness requires the guard rail of proximity. That’s why an entire chapter of Ezekiel 42 is detailed with measurements to build an inner place in the temple, a barrier to separate the secular from the sacred:

²⁰He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, the length five hundred and the width five hundred, to divide between the holy and the profane. Ezekiel 42:20

In principle and practice, as the people of God, there must be a separation of the common and the rarified, the unclean from the consecrated, the unacceptable from that which is  approved by God. That’s why the very lay out of the inner chamber of the temple is a graphic “show and tell” presentation of the required spatial and spiritual relationship of God and man. Every worship opportunity was a reminder: Nearness to a holy God demands distance from the profane. There is a hidden danger in how you behave, who you associate with, and what you value that is unholy. The yellow and black tape of holiness is intended to direct your steps around the danger and toward Kodesh-the holy character of God that blesses you and you blessing others.

BACKSTORY. God’s people disregarded the guard rails of holiness, embracing idolatry. They ignored separating themselves from the vulgar, the unclean, unholy associations. The consequences were Babylonian exile—70 years of separation from the sacredness of God to change the heart of His people.

ILLUSTRATION. How does Kodesh –a separation from unacceptable worldly ways for the sake of the acceptable way—look in daily living? Self-centeredness and waste are unacceptable. Thinking of someone else’s needs beyond your own satisfaction is the stuff of heroes fit for the Hollywood silver screen, and the Los Angeles mean streets. Hillary Cohen, an assistant movie director for more than 15 years, couldn’t stand to see uneaten, high-end, crew meals go to waste when people outside the shooting lots were going hungry.  So, she teamed up with other like-minded movie professionals and started Every Day Action, a nonprofit that picks up extra food from film sets and other businesses and delivers it to communities in need around Los Angeles. Since 2020, the group estimates it has redistributed more than 270,000 meals.  That’s putting a whole new meaning to “Action”. Hunger doesn’t stop when the director screams, “Cut”,

APPLICATION. Team up with the right people to do good things. Life is a series of black and yellow caution tape to direct you to like-minded people who have the heart of God to bless—not abuse—who can’t tolerate inaction in the face of real human needs. Separate yourselves from people who use others, who taint your purpose, who disregard the guard rails to Kodesh. Don’t ignore the warning tape. Watch your step. Who you “hang” with can one day hang you.