Should Christians Set Boundaries to Keep from Sinning?

 September 23, 2024

Monday

I suppose I am a bit naive. I know that we are all sinners. I am just surprised at the egregious sins that people are pulled into. I suppose I wouldn't be so surprised if these people weren't raised in church. They should have known better. They should have been stopped by their faith because some sins are so consequential that there is no going back from them. They should have said, "I don't think Jesus wants me to do this." You see, these sins took many steps to commit. They weren't saying a bad word or getting angry or even harboring hatred against another person. No one who is close to the Lord would commit these sins. It bothers me that someone who was in church last week could.

I must ask the question. Is attending church making a difference? In some cases, I must say, No!

Evidently, singing songs and listening to sermons and the testimonies of others has little impact on some people. They can hear the word of God and still not recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit. They can know the evil that is possible and still cheat on their spouses. They can know the consequences and still steal from their employers. They can be teachers of the word of God and still act like they know nothing of God's word.

Everyone needs to know that they have the capacity to sin in any sin that is considered sin if they don't take precautions to avoid that sin. That's why boundaries are set up before running into the sin. That's why Billy Graham wouldn't meet privately with women. He knew what could happen. He wasn't blaming the women, he was setting up a boundary for himself. Many have criticized him for this. They take the negative attitude of thinking that he thought he could persuade others to do what he shouldn't do. They say that he was considering the women as having no virtues. That isn't the point. It didn't matter what the women would or wouldn't do if he didn't have the opportunity to do it. The boundaries were set to keep that from happening.

Yes, church men go to strip bars and assume that they aren't affected. They think they can fill themselves with filth and still be pure. They do not recognize that the lack of boundaries with alluring sin is a consuming fire. They aren't generally sorry until they get caught.

Boundaries are necessary. They make a more peaceful life for they stop sin before it starts going.

A friend of mine and I were filling a grain train car with maize in my home town. We used an auger to put the grain in the car but didn't have a means of moving the auger to the next car. So, we got a tractor and hooked it to all the cars and intended to pull them so that the next car would be in line with the auger. Before we started, we place some ten inches diameter logs on the tracks and released the brakes. The tractor started pulling the grain cars. We hadn't noticed that we were pulling the cars downhill. Soon, the cars built up a bit of speed. They were heavy even when they weren't loaded. The logs split like toothpicks when they reached the logs. I ran and got on the back car and turned the brake until the cars stopped. Yes, we set a boundary but it wasn't strong enough.

Sometimes we think that we have set boundaries that will keep us from sin that aren't strong enough. In fact, they were set too little, too late. So, we need to set boundaries that will keep us from sin. They need to be set a long way from when the sin has built up so much speed that we can't stop it. 

A whole lot more tears are going to come to those who have set no boundaries. A whole lot more Christians are going to regret the lives they are living if they don't set those boundaries. I beg you to set boundaries.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (KJV) ²²  Abstain from all appearance of evil.