Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. Jeremiah 5:22 ES
As a child, one of my absolute favorite things to do was color. Crayons and a coloring book could keep me happily occupied for hours on end. My favorite coloring book subjects included fairy princesses and other magical creatures, animals, cartoon characters, and Bible characters.
I loved all the colors in the Crayola box, especially the jewel-toned shades, which are still my favorites to this day. I experimented with mixing colors by overlaying different shades to create unique blends. I taught myself how to use a piece of tissue to smooth and blend layered colors.
The one thing that could ruin a perfectly colored page was getting outside of the lines. Slipping across the border could destroy a perfectly good coloring experience. So, I began outlining all the lines in the pictures I colored, creating borders to make it easier to color within the lines.
Today, I still create art pieces with painted outlines simply because I love the order and clean edges of outlines. I like borders and boundaries.
Boundaries: A real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org)
Border: A line that has been agreed to divide one country from another; a strip that goes around or along the edge of something, often as decoration; to form a line around the edge of something. ( https://dictionary.cambridge.org)
Borders and boundaries are hot topics in today’s world.
More accurately stated, there is a great deal of argument, angry debate, and frequently vicious, even physical, conflict taking place in our country today and elsewhere around the world related to our physical borders.
Many believe, as I do, that borders are sacred and critical to a nation’s identity and should be treated with the greatest respect by all citizens living within those borders, and by any wanting to enter our borders.
Others hold that porous, fluid borders are more appropriate in a global society and more conducive to a fully integrated society.
We’ll leave it at that. The point is that borders are a significant and hotly debated issue today.
“Boundaries” is the other term referenced, and it is often defined more broadly than “borders” to include personal relationships and human interaction. The idea of setting boundaries, theoretically, is to enable more productive and healthy relationships or to distance oneself from harmful, hate-filled interactions.
But as with most things, misapplied boundaries can create isolation for the one setting them. And it can discourage all attempts to reconcile or heal broken relationships.
Borders and boundaries were both initiated by God.
In Genesis chapter one, God created boundaries for light and darkness, for the skies and the firmament, for dry land and the seas, for order within all His creation, including the relationship between man and woman and all other creatures.
Yours is the day, Yours also the night; You have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter. Psalm 74:16-17 ESV
God is always a God of order. He established borders and boundaries for the good of His creation.
Throughout the early chapters of Genesis, as humankind began to fill the earth, borders were established. After Israel left Egypt and began taking possession of the Promised Land, God organized their inheritance using borders.
However, we are experts at perverting God’s plans and protections for our own self-interest. This sounds audacious, but it is true. We often try to put borders and boundaries on our relationship with God.
Like the rich young ruler who was so close to believing and surrendering to the Savior, but drew back when Jesus breached his border, telling him to sell all he had to give to the poor. (Luke 18:22)
Or as the men who wanted to follow Jesus without stepping outside of the boundaries of their personal priorities. (Luke 9:57-62)
Demas, mentioned in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, had expanded his boundaries to embrace the world’s enticements and so deserted Paul and his ministry. (2 Timothy 4:10)
How often do we set up borders and boundaries for ourselves that establish limits on what we’re willing to do for God?
- Lord, I can’t attend Bible Study and give up my Wednesday evenings after I’ve had a hard day at work.
- God, I want to know you better, but there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to read Your Word.
- I can’t reach out to her, that will be too awkward—she’s the one who started it,” so she’s the one who needs to apologize.
The list is endless. Every time we say “no” to God’s lead, or refuse to surrender to the Holy Spirit’s nudge, or stubbornly hold on to a habit or pet sin that we know displeases God, we grow the boundary we’ve established between God and us—pushing ourselves further away from Him.
When we establish borders and boundaries for self-preservation and self-protection, the underlying purpose is to take control over our own lives, rather than surrendering wholeheartedly to God’s control.
God’s borders and boundaries are for our good, our growth, and our protection. The borders and boundaries we establish without God’s leading will isolate us, slow our growth, and tarnish the testimony of our lives.
What boundaries and borders have you built into your life—into your walk with Christ?
What do you need to do to shatter those self-imposed boundaries and borders so that you can live freely within the relationship that God has established for your good and growth, and that He wants to have with you?
Who is drawing the lines of your life?
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26-27 NKJV