Life Hack #4 - Within or Without

Life Hack #4:

Keep those boundaries - but you have to know them before you can keep them! Boundaries are really nothing more than a dividing line. We have all kinds of "dividing lines" in life, don't we? Some are quite real - like those drawn for the purposes of playing a sport on the field. Others are set up in our minds - not specifically clear to others, but definitely clear to us. The problem comes when someone wants to move one of those boundaries - stretching it or reducing it in some manner. We feel a little threatened, challenged, or overcome by this attempt to move the "markers", don't we? 

Don’t stealthily move back the boundary lines staked out long ago by your ancestors. (Proverbs 22:28)

In Old Testament times, they did not have surveyors with highly technical laser point imaging tools to assist in laying out boundary lines. They'd use landmarks or "markers" of sorts to indicate a boundary. They'd say the boundary limit was the mountain range to the east or the river to the west. If they had no such "visible" limit, they'd set up some kind of pile of stones or pillar. That "pile" would stand as a marker to indicate the point of boundary. 

There are also boundary lines of different sorts which we often refer to as rules or commandments. The Ten Commandments were given as "protective boundaries" in our lives. They were never meant to be "laborious" or "impossible" to keep but were designed to assist us in remaining in a place of safety - spiritually, physically, emotionally, and 'relationally'. This is all that God's "rules" really are anyway - like guardrails on a winding highway, they keep us safe from going over the edge!

One thing is certain - boundaries are not to be moved! We cannot dispute the "ownership" of a particular piece of property because the boundary lines establish that ownership. The boundary lines we choose to live within in our own lives often show who has been declared the "owner" of our lives! Live within God's boundaries and we are showing he is the owner of our life. Choose to constantly be moving those boundary lines and we reveal the ownership is really ours and not his. This doesn't seem very significant, but we often move boundaries little by little, almost as though we'd hope nobody would notice them being moved. In truth, God catches each subtle movement of the boundaries, and he is grieved when we push them away, or even "fudge the line" a little.

Learning to trust the boundaries God establishes for our lives is part of growing up in Jesus. Trusting him enough to stay within those established boundaries is a matter of maturity - not moving those lines is a matter of obedience. Boundaries established early in our walk with Jesus are not meant to be moved later on - they may become clearer as we walk with him, but once established, they are to be honored. Just sayin!