Life Boundaries

3 This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," without keeping His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: 6 the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

Obedience is difficult no matter your age. The root of obedience is knowing which boundaries you aren’t willing to test. Where is it that you won’t go, no matter what happens? Those are the boundary lives of your life that are formed by your convictions. If you are like the rest of us, there are seasons in your life where you do everything you can to push the limits and test the boundaries. Think about when you learned to walk, when you got your car, when you went to college, and when you turned 21. These were all times that you pushed the limits to see where your freedom would take you.

As you read, 1 John 2:3-6, I want you to see how your walk with Christ affects your desire and my desire to push the limits and test the boundaries. In this passage, we see that once we know Jesus he is the one that sets our boundaries through his commands. No longer do we push to see what we can handle or simply what we enjoy. Instead we look to His Word to find our limits. The passage goes one to say that if we truly love him then we need to be especially sensitive to the portions of our lives where we sin by going beyond the limits set by his commands. We can’t live outside his “obedience box” and say that we are good with Him. Lastly, we are reminded that when we live within the boundaries of his commands then his love is made complete in us. We get to show our love for him by denying ourselves and living the obedient life and we get to experience his love by understanding how even his commands provide what is best for us.

Think through where you are right now. Is there something that you need to take action on so that you can live a more consistently obedient life? Are there boundaries that you are testing right now that you need to back away from?