Boundaries

Good morning all...at least it is for me.  As I reflect upon our time this last week in youth group I was amazed at what God had shown me once again.  One of the great things about my job is that I get to study...God's word, others ideas and thoughts and put them together like a grand puzzle so as to share the picture God paints for me to our youth.  This week started with our Wed night series on "living life in an Abercrombie and Fitch world".  This past week’s theme was on boundaries.  I was excited to get to this week and to "the" question....how far is to far as it pertains to sexual boundaries within relationships.  It is the question I have got for years.  Reality is, that the question is flawed somewhat in my opinion, kind of like the, how much can I get away with and still get into heaven question.  Not that this one is not always asked, but definitely implicitly implied by many other questions we, not just our teens, ask often when we evaluate our lives, and try to squeeze everything into it.  You see the how far question is usually asked because deep down we know.  We know the answer and often hope we are wrong and we can do just a little more to feed my desires, dabble with temptation enough just not to get burned....too bad at least.

In my morning time with my Savior, I have been reading a book entitled Sabbath Presence.  It just so happened that my morning lesson the day I was going to give my Boundary lesson, was on "the gift of Boundaries".  Got to love God's timing.  Although more of it was directed towards our boundaries on Sabbath keeping (exodus 31:14) it quickly opened my eyes to all sorts of struggles we have with boundaries, whether it be morally, physically, or spiritually.  The theme of the message was that we (humanity) must learn to relinquish mastery over the world and remember God's mastery over all!

You see in our culture, teen and adults (none of us are guilt free on this one :), the denial of boundaries in our lives manifest itself in the form of relativism.  This in turn becomes a life where everything is judged from an individualistic perspective where there are no absolutes and we all create our own rules and boundaries to live by.  Now this would makes sense for those living outside of the practice of Christianity (or maybe any religious value system for that matter), but unfortunately it is a way of life for most believers as well as unbelievers.  Maybe not verbally but intrinsically we see it taught every day.   When we don’t express boundaries over all areas of our lives, it becomes confusing when we just pick a few locations (i.e. sexual desires in our series) to incorporate healthy boundaries.  Unless we are truly willing to live lives surrendered to God, giving up “our rights” on our lives (some issues there for another day) and desire Christ more than the “stuff” of this world that feeds us so often, to have authentic boundaries, in which can be truly taught and lived out….may be a mute point.

Maybe another way of stating this is that far too often we are more prevalent in setting external boundaries and limits but having difficulty with personal boundaries.  We set boundaries for our students to come home by a certain time each night, but allow them to kill themselves by not stopping them from piling more and more on the plates in life.  Why?  Because we then might have to explain why those same boundaries don’t apply to us, teaches and enforcers of the boundaries, as well.  Being a parent of two boys, I see how much easier it is for my life and theirs to live out external boundaries rather than trying to constantly reinforce the personal ones.  Why?  Because I am guilty of poor boundary management myself and don’t want to be a hypocrite.  Maybe God’s idea of law and boundaries are just understood poorly.  They are not just there to keep me out of trouble…they are meant to express how much I don’t need to control my life and everything in it.  That God truly has the best in mind for my life.  I think we know this on a theological level, but do we believe that what God has given to his children (in the law and commandments)  is truly the best way of living?   Well, ask yourselves, “how are your boundaries” in your life?  Ya, me too.  God bless you in your journey!