Boundaries

Trying to talk about one thing from Matthew chapter 5 is as challenging as taking on the task of describing how each item of food tastes at the Shady Maple buffet. There is just too much food on that line to sample everything and there is just too much great stuff to talk about in Matthew chapter 5: link here:Matthew 5 In this chapter Jesus talks a lot about boundaries. He says things like, “You have heard that it was said…” The Old Testament law prescribed a lot of boundaries, a lot of rules that God’s people were to keep. For example, you were not to murder and not to commit adultery. But Jesus moved the boundaries. He said that even if you were angry with your brother you were guilty of the judgment of murder and even if you lusted after a woman you had committed the act of adultery. Do you see how Jesus “shifted” the boundaries there?

We like to set boundaries on sin as close to the sin as possible. Jesus moves those boundaries as close to Him as possible, in the opposite direction. Jesus came to fulfill the Law…to be the embodiment of the righteous requirements of the Law that no man could keep, no matter how he set the boundaries. In Jesus we have available to us a living God that will empower us to follow Him and to serve Him, not only keeping us within His boundaries but doing so in such a way that shines like light to a dark world. Let Jesus set your boundaries and then rely on Him, working in you, to stay and flourish within them.