Limits

Limits. We fight restrictions. 

Don’t tie us down. Hem us in. Hold us back. 

The old lie seeps in from birth. All the way from the Garden. “Did God actually say, ‘Don’t eat this’?” (Genesis 3:1-7)

And asserting independence, we step subtly off the path. Veer inconspicuously outside the way of truth. Go our own way. 

We’re entitled to this freedom. This pleasure. 

So we think.

The Law

For the people of Israel, the law of the Lord is set in stone. Literally. By the finger of God. 

Ten Commandments. Clarifying two key parts of obedience: loving the Lord their God and loving their neighbor. 

However, before Moses even makes it down the mountain with stone tablets in hand, they turn away. Demanding their own convenient version of a god. 

The chosen people. Testing the limits. Impatient in the waiting. Going their own route.

Law is going to be the death of them.

Covenant

Reading Deuteronomy, I see the words of those who don’t get the seriousness of violating the covenant. Rebellion revealed in their thoughts. 

“When someone hears the words of this oath….” 

This oath? The commitment to live in covenant with the Lord God Almighty.

“When someone hears the words of this oath, he may consider himself exempt, thinking, ‘I will have peace
even though I follow my own stubborn heart.’”
Deuteronomy 29:19

Consequences

“Did God really say…?” Nah. I’m good. This feels right for me. It’ll be okay.

But it’s not.

Intense consequences follow the disobedient in the biblical account. Plague. Fire. Exile.

No one is exempt.

Limits

Fast forward a few hundred years after the last prophet’s words are recorded on a scroll. 

People chafe under Roman rule and bow beneath the weight of religion. A burden complicated by all those extra regulations. Added on by Jewish religious leaders. 

Limits at every turn.

Messiah

Then, one day, there He is. Jesus. Rumored to be Messiah. Talking about the Kingdom of God. 

And He says the extraordinary, “Don’t think I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17).

What exactly does that mean? Goodbye, Roman dictatorship? Hello, victory and freedom?

Heart change

But His teaching doesn’t match assumptions. And His way? Unexpected. 

No outward show of keeping the law. But inward surrender. Not mere ritual. But heart change. 

No political victory. Instead, wholehearted submission to the King of kings. And the rules of engagement? Curious. Upside down from how it’s always been.. 

“Then He said to them all,
‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself,
take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.
For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?’”
Luke 9:23-25 

Testing the limits

Today, we sometimes think, “I will have peace, even though I follow my own stubborn heart.” 

And we might be sitting in a pew. Keeping up appearances. 

Deceived by the same old serpent, saying “Did God really say, ‘Don’t eat this’?” 

“I’ll follow along just enough. It’ll be okay.” 

But He’s not asking for a piece of you or me. He asks for the whole. All. 

No limits.

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.”
Hebrews 12:1-2

What about you?

Do you struggle with entitlement? Kick against the restrictions? Follow along “just enough”? Are you willing to daily surrender, die to self, and follow Him? No matter what?

Related posts

Abiding in Christ – Follow Me – Deny yourself – Tents and altars – Paths and prophets – Blood and sacrifice – Hungry for what? – The long obedience –