Boundaries

How close do you allow people to be to you? How completely honest are you to every question asked? When do you tell someone that the information was more than you asked (TMI)? When is it time to just walk away?

The Word tells us if we would like friends to show ourselves friendly(Proverbs 18:24 KJV). My mother would tell me as a child to smile more and people will naturally gravitate towards you. Both have been proven to be true; however do those who come are the kind of people we would like to be around or have around us?

I counseled a woman who couldn't understand that the five different men who fathered her five children had the same exact personality she would rather her children not to be like. Yet she kept meeting the same kind of man. Why?

Some men voice what they like in women and have every intention of meeting such a woman but the end result is that he settles for the polar opposite of what he spoke of. How many of us are content with the relationships we invited into our lives? And if you aren't content with them, what are you doing about it?

In the bible, scripture tells that when God asked Abraham to leave his kinfolk, he brought Lot with him. Lot did not do what Abraham did to get the blessings that God provided for him, yet Lot was blessed because of the overflow and the promise of God said about Abraham's seed. When desention was in the camp, Abraham immediately made the decision for Lot to go his way and Abraham would use the path Lot didn't choose to go. what was Abraham doing? Seeking peace. peace became more important to have then friendship. More important then family.

What will it take for each of us to make that same decision? We already chose life as it is written in Deuteronomy. Now what? The Word tells us to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness . We find that the Kingdom of God is love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. So could your happiness be caught up in not seeking for those in your life?

If God has already set us apart from the world calling us a peculiar nation, why would we try to be apart of the band wagon? What boundaries have you placed and would never compromise?

Personally, I don't like to nit-pick, criticize, or nag and I don't like to hear such things; therefore, I won't choose to be associated with those who can justify and continue to do those things. People have been comfortable enough around me to let slip how they will lie, steal, and cheat to get whatever they have to getr. Should they be surprised when I am not as readily available to shop, converse over the phone, or go to the movies with them?

God tells us that blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. If you recognize acts and/or speech that doesn't line up with what you believe, yes, you pray for the person; but do you continue to associate yourself with him or her? When do you say no? When is enough, enough? Are ungodly associations more important than Kingdom Living? If they are, what kind of life have you created for yourself?