When Boundaries "Protect." by Deborah

God said No.
A boundary was laid.  Numerous more were laid after that.  Each commandment He made was another boundary.
Even Satan was given boundaries that he was unable to break without special permission
​ (Job 1:9-12).

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​God gave us boundaries for multiple reasons, but they all come down to one main reason—our protection.  Each and every boundary He gave us was out of love—to protect us.

In order to keep His boundaries, we must at times make or enforce boundaries on others as well.
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When a nonbeliever asks for a date, but you have been given the boundary not to be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14), how will you keep it without setting a boundary?  In order to keep this boundary you have been given by your King, you must set a boundary on another person.  
Consider also, how would a mother raise up a child in the way he should go (1 Timothy 5:8) without giving boundaries on her own child?  

Boundaries were given to us from God to:

• Protect our hearts (with our humanly lives and with the King)
• Protect our relationships (with each other and with Him)
• Protect our children—which we are expressly given responsibility for
• Protect our physical place of dwelling—He knew we would need a safe place

In order to keep His commandments, we must make boundaries in our love life—both when we consider dating/courting, and continuing on in our marriage.  If you are single—you must put boundaries on those you date to protect the marriage you will one day have.  And one could hardly argue that a Christian shouldn’t use boundaries with any man outside her marriage in order to protect the marriage she has.  

There will be friends along the way that we may have to put boundaries on in order to encourage them to walk a life of obedience.  When a sister starts to slip, there may be places where you must make boundaries for her protection.  (“No, you may not use my house to meet with your male friend when your husband isn’t around—no matter how ‘innocent’ the relationship is” or “No, I will not listen to gossip.”)

At times, we must even put boundaries on ourselves.  

Do you have a temptation?  You’ll put boundaries on yourself to keep you away from that temptation.
Some boundaries, such as shutting and locking our doors at night, as a means to imply “No, you cannot come in whenever you want,” are for our physical protection.

We must not get so caught up in our Christian lives that we ever think we were put here to be doormats.  We were never meant to stand idly by and be walked on, or let ourselves and loved ones be willingly hurt.

We were meant to have His protection.  Part of that protection are the boundaries He gave us, and in order to keep those protective boundaries, we must understand that there will be times when it is appropriate to set boundaries on others.

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You can visit my site here,  at Grace Garden and Homestead - where I’ll share my journey of
​ self-sufficiency with you all. ​​