Rules, God, & Boundaries

Romans 7:18-25

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.


²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

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"I know the right thing to do, but yet I'm not doing it. I want to stop, but how? How can I get free? Why don't I just stop? Why can't I just turn away? What a horrible person I am! If people only knew just how wretched I really was! If they knew MY sin, they would hate me!!!"

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I have said the preceding words before. I have sobbed and pleaded with God to take away my horrible habits and sins. I have begged for Him to just remove the temptation before me. At times, He did.

The other times, I had to CHOOSE to walk away. 

I had to CHOOSE to turn off different TV programs. 

I had to CHOOSE to turn against my own desires. 

I had to CHOOSE to say "NO" to whatever fleshly desire was knocking at my door.

I have had Christian friends tell me, "Just DON'T do it!"

Really??? I would love to "just not do it". I would love to be able to have the power and ability to "just not do it".

With Jesus Christ, we DO have the power. 

I used to think God had all sorts of rules for me to follow because He just wanted to take the fun out of my life. NO drinking, NO swearing, NO smoking, NO sex before marriage, KEEP a pure heart, KEEP a pure mind, KEEP good thoughts, etc.

The more I live life, and the more I seek God, I'm realizing He has set those boundaries to protect us. To keep our heart from pain. To keep us from causing other people heartaches. God doesn't long to punish us. He longs to keep us out of the pits we dig and then jump into.

I know He grieves when we get ourselves into one of those situations. I used to think that He grieved because we couldn't live up to the standard He placed before us, you know, that He was thinking, "Boo hoo, I don't know why I trusted that Heaven with that rule. I knew she would break it. She's never going to 'get it'."

But of course, that's not who God is!

I think God grieves FOR us. See, when we jump into a great big slimy pit without realizing it (or caring), He KNOWS what we will have to endure and go through. He knows the pain we are going to experience. He knows the beginning, middle, and end, and therefore, He knows our choices will cause us gut-wrenching pain at times.

Most of us do not just totally defy the rules. We don't always intend to get into the messes we get into to. Our hearts long to please God...

Yet...

We want "that other thing" as well...

 whatever that may be. 

"That thing" that God has said "No" to. 

"That thing" that is contrary to what God defines as Holy. 

We don't want to totally rebel...

We just want a little...

then a little more...

and a little more.

Next thing we know, we've buried ourselves in our "junk", the "thing" that we knew we would NEvER do!!!

"How did we get here!!!"

We compromised.

Just a little.

Then a little more.

Maybe a tad bit more than we wanted to.

Well, a little bit more should be fine.

A compromise is a compromise!

I really try to lead a pure life. I have chosen to remove many of the things that trigger my struggles. I'm a "Rated G" and "Rated PG" kind of girl. I KNOW where my mind can go and how I could fantasize if I allowed myself to, therefore, I'm very careful of what TV programs I watch, the music I listen to, the books I read, the situations I could get myself into.

Over the years, I have really sought God on this, and for me, that means I don't go with my friends to watch "chick flicks". I don't really watch alot of things that I wouldn't allow my children to watch. Sexual images flash across even the simplest commercial, so I'm cautious how much time I spend watching TV.

Songs- Because of my history with guys and the bars, I don't listen to much secular music. I'm a "Christian music" kind of girl. Almost every old song that comes on the radio seems to remind me of some guy, party, or lifestyle choice I used to live.

People boundaries- I don't hang out with guys. I don't spend any time alone with guys. I don't talk late nights or for long periods of time with guys. I KNOW myself! I KNOW my weaknesses. I KNOW I have a seductive personality and I used to love flirting.

I sound very "prudish", but I've made too many mistakes to worry about how I sound. I got tired of my heart breaking. I got tired of seeking for acceptance and love in the wrong places. I got tired of the shame and guilt and the self-destructive behaviors that I sought out because of my need for love.

Human nature is to seek something to fill the God-sized hole in our hearts, whether it be people, work, sex, drugs, alcohol, food, or whatever else.

I've seen too many people with broken hearts. It's not worth it for me.

Are you compromising? 

Does it feel like you've crossed the "point of no return?" I promise you, you're NEVER too far gone for God!!! NEVER, EVER, EVER!!!

Satan wants you to believe that you can "handle it", you can turn back whenever you want, you can change it, noooooooooooooooooo problem!

It's a lie.

God doesn't set rules to frustrate you.

Really, He doesn't.

He does it to protect you.

Sometimes from yourself.