Separated By Healthy Boundaries

Greetings to all, we have made it to another "hump" day Wednesday! Let's thank God for blessing us with the wisdom and strength He has given us to make it through each day and the hope to finish strong. Amen

Too often, we fail to see the beauty of life, which is precious because we tend to carry the burdens that others lay on us. God never intended for us to bear the burdens of others; that weigh us down.

Galatians 6:5 (HCSB)

5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

We must set healthy boundaries with love and stop spending so much of our time trying to cover and please those who are not living a life obedient to God's word.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (GW)

14 Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness?

15 Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever?

16 Can God's temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said, "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

17 The Lord says, "Get away from unbelievers. Separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with anything unclean. Then I will welcome you."

18 The Lord Almighty says, "I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters."

The above verse is often used when talking about a relationship as it pertains to marriage. However, sometimes these can be our family members, friends, co-coworkers, and our church members. These people have the potential and the ability to drain the joy and life out of us continuously.

While as Christians, we are called to demonstrate Christian love, we must be mindful not to be unforgiving and unjust in our thinking that we turn separation into isolation.

Philippians 1:9-11 (TLB)

9 My prayer for you is that you will overflow more and more with love for others, and at the same time keep on growing in spiritual knowledge and insight,

10 for I want you always to see clearly the difference between right and wrong, and to be inwardly clean, no one being able to criticize you from now until our Lord returns.

11 May you always be doing those good, kind things that show you are a child of God, for this will bring much praise and glory to the Lord.

Lesson: Who doesn't want to be happy in this life? We shouldn't be seeking the pleasures and comforts of this world, putting up with negative and offensive people, and allowing them to make us abandon our happiness for fear of hurting their feelings.