“The Freedom in Limits”

Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has been dealing with the issue of limits. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lie that God had established limits on their freedom out of fear for His own position of power and authority. Nothing could have been further from the truth as Christ’s death on the Cross proved: Jesus died to share power, freedom, and life with man and deliver him from an eternal state of weakness and sin. While we do live in a world where limits are certainly used by some to protect themselves and ensnare and weaken others, limits and boundaries are an inherent gift from God to keep us safe from many different kinds of harm and even death. Like any loving parent, God is constantly using limits to keep man from prematurely touching and experiencing things that would greatly harm us until we are mature enough to be guided by God to do so. Many limits are essential and safeguard those who observe them while bringing great harm and death to those who don’t.

Gravity is a limit the value of which you soon discover if you are falling toward the earth from any appreciable height. Fire creates limits, as do water and air. Burning buildings, raging floods, and tornados prove my point; observing precautionary limits keeps us from them or helps us survive them. Telling the truth is protection from the consequences of telling lies, as is faithfulness from the challenges of adultery or moral failure of any kind. Limits are found in both the material world and the spiritual world. Again, responsible parenting teaches children at an early age to respect limits if they want to avoid pain and trouble. Rebels break rules and limits; the consequences vary in both severity and the time it takes to manifest the consequences.

Some rules and limits are of human origin and are foolish, prejudicial, and should be eliminated. However, the limits God has established are not really broken by man; they break man when he breaks them. There are also economic limits and boundaries which carry serious consequences. Adam and Eve eventually suffered the consequences of mortality and death when they bypassed God’s limits. In the short run, they were morally corrupted by the sin nature and bondage to Satan that immediately followed their disobedience. Ask the alcoholic and heroin addict if the “freedom” to misuse drugs can ensnare and affect one’s character; both their addiction and their words will confirm it. Obedience keeps us safe and, once broken, it is often very hard to free oneself from the “open door” that was created in the process of disobedience.

Godly morality is not a burden; it is a barrier and a bulwark against the loss of one’s will to resist that which ensnares and addicts us. As the apostle Paul labors to convince us in chapter seven of the book of Romans, the Law reveals how corrupt our nature became in the Fall. Sin is not simply breaking a law; it is an inherent power contaminating our soul, eating away at our character, and constantly urging us to break free of the limits God has set for us. The Law reveals the depth of our corruption rather than being a limitation of our freedom.

Laws and principles are totally indifferent to our intentions. Even if we break them with good intentions, the consequences frequently corrupt us with bitterness and anger since we suffer without “deserving” it as we seek to justify our ignorance or good motives. We are thereby exposed to new and deeper opportunities to break more laws and principles, further adding to the loss of our freedom. One bypassed limit opens up multiple new limits to break, further enslaving us or the systems we create in our foolishness. And that, my friends, is…

THE BOTTOM LINE.

This month’s Bottom Line is excerpted from Chapter 8 of Dennis Peacocke’s book, On the Destiny on Nations: Resolving Our Economic Crisis, available in the following formats: Paperback | Kindle | eBook