Boundaries With Grey Areas
If you have ever read the book of Exodus, you will have eventually come to the laws that God laid down for His people. These laws are what we now base our laws on.
Exodus chapters 20-23 stipulate the laws and the boundaries that God laid down for His peoples’ safety and well-being. They cover personal injuries; protection of property, social responsibility; laws of justice and mercy; and sabbath laws. There are no grey areas. Everything is stipulated clearly.
Consider why God laid them down to be followed so clearly.
We can tend to have boundaries with grey areas. But God wants us to become people with clear boundaries, an unshakable people who do not trip up and fall.
We are to be a people with high standards of conduct, who care about others and do what is right. We are to be a people who are prepared to make restitution when we’ve done wrong. We are to understand that when others do wrong to us, they are accountable for their behaviour to God. These things are important to God. They are also important for us to shape our moral character.
We are to be a people who follow God’s ways because of who He is and who we are.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT)
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Deuteronomy 6:1-2 (NIV)
These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
We are not to teach or follow our version of God’s principles but God’s version, as He sets out throughout His Word. Having a fear of the Lord guides the direction of our heart so that we don’t water down His truth.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 (MEV)
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
In other words, live and breathe them every day, sifting your experiences through their lens, and make sure you bring your children up in these same values. Be set apart by them, and God promises that you may enjoy your life.
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