Boundaries help us serve others better. It seems ironic, perhaps, but while service is selfless, that does not mean we cannot protect ourselves. God wants us to be active in doing good things, but we also need some balance. We need to be able to rest and to protect ourselves in some ways from bad experiences.

There is a danger here in finding this balance. When we talk about this, we are talking about setting boundaries.

Boundaries Defined by the CEO Example

What I mean by “boundaries” is a set of rules we set in motion that protects our time and our finances from unwanted pressures and demands. It’s much like a CEO who hides safely behind his assistant when people call to pressure him in unwanted ways. While a good CEO might have some type of open-door policy for people to discuss matters with them, others have cleverly hidden so that it is almost impossible to actually speak to them if you have a problem with their policies or with your work.

They do this by assigning the tasks to subordinates, by blocking their time with appointments, and by making their assistants their “gate-keepers” so that only the people the CEO wants to allow access can actually get that access. It’s simply a way to keep out everyone and everything he does not want to handle, for whatever reason. This helps the CEO live a more “balanced” life, unburdened by all the problems.

Now with a CEO that makes sense. He doesn’t have time to deal with every problem in his company. That’s why there are managers and all kinds of people to make things run as smoothly as possible. But sometimes that means the CEO just doesn’t want to deal with problems at all and hides himself away, safe from the demands of his employees.

Applying Boundaries to Christians

Do we Christians do that too? Maybe we are like some I have heard on Facebook who will not accept friend requests from people in other countries because they fear being asked for money from them. Have you ever gotten a friend request and felt guilty for declining it? Are we simply hiding ourselves from people we could be helping in some ways? Then again, I know people who go even further than this. They pride themselves on unfriending and blocking people on Social Media who even casually disagree with them about something. Is that the answer?

Maybe it is protecting our phone numbers so that no one can have them except the ones we allow to have them. Is that OK?

What about seeing people on the side of the road who had a breakdown? Do you feel guilty if you don’t stop and pick them up? That is a type of boundary.

But can we see Jesus doing those kinds of things? The answer is not as simple as you might think.

That’s the crux of the matter in this episode. Are we allowed to have boundaries, and if so, what are the limits of those boundaries?

Protecting our boundaries.

Jesus Lived In Different Circumstances

This is a little more difficult to discuss because it requires more balance, and nothing about the life of Jesus seems “balanced” in the way WE generally use that word. He was balanced, of course. But life was very different for Him.

* The culture was very different* His mission was very different. He is the only man in history who was born and knew that His mission in life was to die for the sake of everyone else. That qualifies Him to be seen as having a UNIQUE mission. So our life mission is (by default) DIFFERENT than His.* He was the leader and had to establish something that required a tremendous amount of energy...