Better with Boundaries
Have you ever felt restricted by a boundary? Maybe your boss isn’t allowing you to be creative. Maybe a financial restriction isn’t allowing you to buy the things you desire. Is there physical pain or injury limiting your ability? Do you have a busy family schedule that doesn’t allow for regular date nights?
Life is full of boundaries, restrictions, and limits. Although many times we think life would be better without boundaries, we need to realize that boundaries are God given and for our benefit.
In Genesis 2:15-17, the Bible says:
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
Notice first, that the Lord placed man in the garden to tend and watch over it. Adam and Eve weren’t in the garden for a vacation. They were there for an assignment. But what came next after God assigned them? That’s right, a boundary! God told them they were free to eat of every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So our very assignment (calling) is fulfilled within our God given boundaries.
Isn’t it interesting that different seasons come with different boundaries? For Ashley I, we have been in a season of raising our three young children for ten years. During this season, I’ve desired to write more, minister more, and be used by God more. But the reality is, it is much more important for me to pour into my wife and children in this season. So instead of writing and ministering within the boundary of the season, in many ways I used the boundary as an excuse to not do anything.
What would happen if we changed our perspective and we got better within the boundary. What if we saw the boundary as an opportunity to focus, to rise to the occasion, to bring out the best just where we are. What if you stopped holding back because of the boundary and started stepping out, within the boundary? Imagine the people God has equipped you to influence, when you live full of faith, within boundaries of this season!
Life is full of boundaries, restrictions, and limits. Although many times we think life would be better without boundaries, we need to realize that boundaries are God given and for our benefit.
In Genesis 2:15-17, the Bible says:
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
Notice first, that the Lord placed man in the garden to tend and watch over it. Adam and Eve weren’t in the garden for a vacation. They were there for an assignment. But what came next after God assigned them? That’s right, a boundary! God told them they were free to eat of every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So our very assignment (calling) is fulfilled within our God given boundaries.
Isn’t it interesting that different seasons come with different boundaries? For Ashley I, we have been in a season of raising our three young children for ten years. During this season, I’ve desired to write more, minister more, and be used by God more. But the reality is, it is much more important for me to pour into my wife and children in this season. So instead of writing and ministering within the boundary of the season, in many ways I used the boundary as an excuse to not do anything.
What would happen if we changed our perspective and we got better within the boundary. What if we saw the boundary as an opportunity to focus, to rise to the occasion, to bring out the best just where we are. What if you stopped holding back because of the boundary and started stepping out, within the boundary? Imagine the people God has equipped you to influence, when you live full of faith, within boundaries of this season!
Posted in Faith