The Grace of Boundary Lines & Limits
“Push past your limits…”
“Overcome your limiting beliefs…”
“Breakthrough the limitations and barriers that are holding you back…”
These are the types of messages that we are regularly exposed to through various advertising channels, social media, and even casual conversations with friends or family. Our society is obsessed with breaking limits - speed limits, time limits, or any limit that is seen as an obstacle to human progress. Western culture in particular tends to view limits as being entirely negative or bad.
But Scripture has a different take on limits. Even a cursory reading of the Scriptures will reveal that the boundary lines and limits that God establishes in our lives are actually designed for our own flourishing. We see this from the very beginning of human history (before the Fall) in Genesis 2:17 - where God set limits for Adam and Eve for their own protection and well-being. In Psalm 16:6, David speaks of the "boundary lines that have fallen for him in pleasant places" not as a burden, but as a gift. And even Jesus, in his incarnation, lived within the physical and human limitations that we also face. As Christine Gordon of the Gospel Coalition writes, "Jesus set boundaries, lived within constraints, and submitted to limits."
When viewed this way, limits are a form of grace that need to be received rather than a curse that is to be resisted. That is why God invites us to embrace our limits rather than just trying to push or break past them. God often calls us to live within the boundary lines that He graciously sets for us - which again, are designed for our own protection and human flourishing.
So in reflection…
Where have the boundary lines fallen for you in this season of your life?
What are the limits that God is asking to embrace this season - as opposed to fighting them or trying to break past them?
In closing, we offer this little prayer for you:
May the boundary lines of God fall for you in pleasant places this season…
May God grant you the courage and strength to embrace your limitations as a gift…
May you trust in His goodness and provision, believing that He is leading you faithfully to His delightful inheritance…
