Inside our theme of love this month, this week we are focusing on the placement of healthy boundaries. This world has always had dividing lines. Some are created by geography and natural means, while others are invisible and unwritten. When we enter any human organization, one of the first things we must do is figure out where all the lines have been drawn. We then learn them by heart. We separate from each other by economics, race, politics, religion, education, and language, to name a few. We focus more on what divides us than unites us. We are taught at an early age how to disconnect from one another into neat and tidy categories.

The enemy is all about subtraction while God is about addition. The enemy is all about division, while God is all about multiplication. The enemy is all about decrease, while God is about increase. Biblical love and the placement of freedom through healthy boundaries adds to us and others, multiples our blessings for ourselves and others, and increases who we are and what we accomplish.

The words of Paul from Ephesians 4 …

Therefore I … beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

A life surrendered and submitted to God will lead to humility, gentleness, patience, making allowance, making every effort, binding together as one. Addition, multiplication, increase.

With this in mind listen again to the passage in The Message Bible

In light of all this, here’s what I want you to … get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.  And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

Wouldn’t it be amazing for our kids to see us live lives marked by “humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring ourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences? Living lives that are permeated with Oneness.

Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I want to be someone who adds to people, who multiplies what You give me, that increases in love, grace, and the fruit of Your Spirit. I pray my life be permeated with Oneness. As above, so below.”