Biblical Boundaries: PART ONE

Titus 33:11-14

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

My dear friends,

So many times I have fallen into the hands of perhaps well meaning people with a "Yes" or "sure" or "I guess so" when the Bible makes it clear that we are to say NO. I am so grateful for the unfailing love and redemption of Jesus Christ, but I take it very seriously that my sins have been what has nailed him to the cross.

When we take lightly the things that we have done wrong or any correction that we receive, it is as if we are saying,

"Jesus, oops, I nailed you to the cross." and we are taking for granted our salvation, when really the pain and suffering that He went through was something that NO OTHER human being could have suffered. I am so grateful that my FAITHFUL LOYAL AND DETERMINED BEST FRIEND EVER chose to bear my sins and suffering. He bore each of our sins. He bore our burdens. He saw what was yet to come as well as what had passed.

When learning to say NO, it is important that we learn when we can say YES as well. This task is a great joy when done correctly, and frustrating from time to time as well. I have found myself angry and frustrated, but also peaceful and free because of learning this word. When I utilize it, I begin to realize the good I can do with this word.

Sometimes we say NO to things that we could have chosen to say YES, and it is possible that we go overboard on saying no when we are first realizing its power. We must also remember that in Christ Jesus, His promises are always YES and AMEN. (2 Corinthians 1:19) Paul says this in a very serious tone in this scripture, because he is speaking of the ownership that we have in Christ Jesus, who accepts us as we are without finding fault.

We, in and of ourselves, are weak, and it is only by the grace of God that we are able to stand up to the deceitfulness and the temptations that are present in this world. I have failed to say No too many times, and this has caused me great pain and conflict. It has also caused me confusion.

Although I see myself as a fairly conservative person, and I am extremely passionate about serving my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as so many of you know about me, I have had great trials and I have been in slavery.

Slavery, yes, slavery. I was in slavery to everyone's will. I wanted what everyone wanted. If it was their will that I do such and such, ok... and if it was their will that I be at such and such a place ... ok. The more that I wanted to please such a person, the more I was a slave to their desires. I was also held captive by some of my desires like marriage & perfection which I choose to nail to the cross. From time to time I was able to break free from this problem, but although "Whom the Son (Jesus Christ) has set free is free indeed," (John 8:36) I was blinded by my overpowering desire to please. So this part of my life was not under submission to the Spirit of God, but was still sin, working and alive within me.

I have no desire for that. The small little taste of freedom that I had the other day in my empowering ability to tell a friend NO about staying at my house was very liberating. I want to walk in freedom, in Christ. This means I have the freedom to choose activities, times of rest, friendships, and the things I do, which of course for me will be centered around the love of my life (Jesus Christ.) He is really the one I desire to honor, and I am forever grateful to him for the sacrifice he made for me.

This is a very complicated topic and I am sure that you will be hearing more from me about it. The desire for change is there, and I repent of my old ways, but I have to tell you, that this journey has been extremely difficult. I am reading the BOUNDARIES (by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend) book for the 4th time, and you know what? It is a great tool, but of itself it is not sufficient. I mean, I almost have some of this stuff memorized. This time through, I have learned even more, but until I took the steps to repentance and actually recognized my aversion to putting up boundaries for many various reasons, I was not able to feel good about the boundaries that I was putting up.

The roaring lion (the devil 1 Peter 5:8) looks around seeking whom he may devour. He is hungry to steal from us (the body of Christ) our unity, love, inner peace and purity, and he comes to rob, kill and destroy (John 10:10). and he has robbed so many Christians of these things by attacking their first love, which is in Jesus Christ.

I want to pour all my love on Him. He is the first and last and He is and always has been the GREATEST DESIRE of my heart. Since the day of my birth in Christ, there has been no hunger so great as the hunger to see Him face to face and to give my all to Him. So ... NO to guilt NO to depression, and NO to false securities and insecurities, NO to overresponsibility and NO to selfish ambition.

I say YES to forgiveness, YES to the joy of the Lord, YES to confidence in Christ and in my salvation, YES to self responsibility and Spirit-given responsibility and YES to godly righteousness.

I am FREE. "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

BE BLESSED PEOPLE!