Boundaries

Have you ever read something before, and then been like "wow, what a great point!"?  I know I have, and one thing comes to mind that I read not long ago.  

 In a book called "One Heartbeat Away", Mark Cahill gave a perfect description of boundaries.  I understood what they were and why they were needed, but I never understood it as fully as I did after reading how he put it into words.  Here's the quote.

"...If we live in a world with no rules, we actually have no freedom.  We can't really be happy.  But when there are boundaries and rules, we have "all the freedom in the world."  We can be happy people.  Does that sound strange?
     "As I talked with a guy one day, I gave him this example:  If you were staying on the thirtieth-floor of a hotel, would you go out on the balcony if it were just a slab of concrete, but no railings?  Would you put your child out there?
     " Of course, you wouldn't.  It would be too dangerous.  But once you put some good strong railings on the balcony, would you go out there?  Would you go out there with your child?
     "Sure!  Not only would most of us go out there, we would even lean on the railings while we were out there.  Why would we want to do this?  Once there is a boundary, you have all the freedom you want inside that boundary.  You can have lunch out there if you want.  Boundaries provide freedom.
    "One time in Myrtle Beach, I was talking with two 18-year-olds.  They told me they would never become Christians.  I asked them why.  They said it would take all the fun out of life.
     "I looked them in the eye and said "Today there is a zero-per-zero-percent chance that I am going to get someone pregnant.  There is a zero-percent chance that I am going to get AIDS today.  There is a zero percent chance I am going to get a DUI today.  You know there are some pretty good benefits to becoming a Christian?
     "Both young men's jaws dropped.  They told me that they had never thought about that before.  They thought they had freedom, but they really didn't. They thought they could do whatever they wanted too, but they didn't realize they would become slaves to the consequences of their choices."

 Boundaries are here for a reason, and if they were used, abortion wouldn't be in its current high demand.  Abortion is so rampant because of the lack of obedience to boundaries, not because of lack of boundaries.  Making lots of laws (boundaries) is not going to fix it, there are already laws in place!  But even more important than man's laws are the laws of God.  If we obeyed the command not to be sexually immoral, then there would never be that temptation to murder, lie, and be selfish with an abortion.  If we would live according to His word, we would be so much better off and so much FREE-ER!  But instead, we have bound ourselves up with sin and play a dangerous game on a 30 floor balcony with no railings. Though we think that abortion will "free us", it's just making it worse.  Sin will not free you.  Only Jesus Christ will free you.

God set boundaries in place for a reason.  It's up to us to follow them.

~Theresa