Why are boundary lines so important in our lives? Boundary lines draw a line in the sand to mark what belongs to us and what it doesn’t. They define our responsibility and stewardship of what has been given to us to take care of. Even nations,states, and cities have boundary lines. Most importantly, relationships are in need of healthy boundary lines!! Let’s find out what God says about this important topic!!
O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance. Psalm 16: 5-6
The Lord maintains what belongs to us
The above scripture is a great encouragement that the territory we have been given, is our inheritance, and we don’t need to strive to keep the boundary line because he maintains our lot!! Praise God!!!
In a competitive world that tells you that unless you’re at the top of your game and continue to compete, you will lose territory, it’s a good reminder to know that the Lord is the keeper of our lot and our boundaries. This does not negate our personal responsibility to steward what we have been given. Ultimately everything belongs to Him, and someday He will ask us how we used what He gave us. I hope we’d all be excited to show Him how we stewarded our resources in building His Kingdom!!
Boundaries give us peace and contentment
Understanding the boundary of our responsibility is crucial for keeping our peace and contentment. The world will trap us with its needs or demand our attention to its agenda. Just because we see something or we care about something, it doesn’t mean it is ours to fix or speak about.
If we have a burden for something, we can always start by praying about the situation or person. We should allow God to lead and guide us to what He desires for us to do. Sometimes people have a tendency to step over the boundary line of someone else’s life. We find it is easier to fix someone else’s life as opposed to allowing them to work on their issues.
We have to stay very sensitive to the Holy Spirit and not take on things out of emotion. If it is not within the boundary line of what the Lord has asked us to work with, it will eventually cause frustration and discouragement because we have taken on something that we are not responsible for.
Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Psalm 127:1a
Sometimes in our zeal to accomplish things, we forget that the Lord is the chief builder of our lives. If it wasn’t for Him, we wouldn’t have even known Him or decided to walk with Him. He has a plan and purpose for our lives that He will unfold over the course of time. We can’t run ahead of Him and try to build something out of our zeal that is not ours to build.
There are times that we see the need for things to change, but we don’t have the maturity to deal with it appropriately. In those times, the Lord may ask us to “wait”. For example, if we are in a marriage that we would really love for our husband to love God, we may see things that he could do differently to walk closer with God. However, If we don’t have the patience to trust God, we may end up discouraging him by putting our standard of Christianity on him!! For a season, the Lord may ask us to ,” be quiet, stop looking at him, and keep following me”, so God can do what He wants when and how He wants. In the process He’ll make us softer, gentler, and more patient with our husbands. When those touchy conversations come along, we don’t have to use exaggeration, emotional tantrum, or comparison to another mature man to get the point across. Instead, we’ll be led by the spirit to say what we need to say and allow the Lord to use it in his life to bring him closer to Him.
Perceived Maturity is not a permission to cross over boundary line
Just because we may consider ourselves a mature believer, it doesn’t give us the permission to speak on anything we observe. Jesus certainly saw a lot, and He even knew the heart of man, but He didn’t go after people trying to fix them or improve them. He allowed people to approach Him, and even then He asked questions to open up the person’ heart and allow it to be a mirror before the person.
I have seen prophetic people wanting to jump to conclusion quickly and make a rash statement about a situation. I believe that’s unwise even if the observation is accurate. Just because we see an apple on a tree it doesn’t mean it’s time to pick it. The apple needs to be ripe enough to not only get picked, but to be desired to get eaten. We should be secure enough to know there is a right time to speak on something, but it’s not anytime!!
Lord we ask you to show us clearly our boundary lines in any situation or relationship to steward our responsibility well and let go of what is not ours to handle!!