The Word of God

When his father-in-law saw how much Moses was doing for the people, he said, “The thing that you are doing is not good” (verse 17 AMP). He then went on to say that if he continued this way, then Moses would wear out, and the people would get worn-out too. Moses could not do it all by himself. We can’t either.

Philippians 4:13 says we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Now this doesn’t mean God gives us strength to do everything we want or feel like we should do. God gives us His grace and strength to do what HE is calling us to do. And that’s all we should be doing.

When we live like this, we will have peaceful and powerful lives.

So how do we do it? First we have to recognize that if something needs to change, we are going to have to take responsibility to change it. The world is not going to change, the devil is not going to change, and the people in your life may not want to change. But you can change.

The Word of God gives us guidelines and commandments that help us have a better life. For example, the Bible talks about wise thoughtfulness (see Proverbs 1:3). I have a tendency to be a rescuer, but loving people doesn’t always mean helping them. Once I realized that Jesus didn’t go around trying to make people let Him help them, it really set me free in this area. I was set free to be led by the Holy Spirit about who to help and how much I should help them.

Here’s another example. The Bible says the borrower is a slave to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). Don’t be like the guy with the bumper sticker that says “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”

Whatever you are struggling with – relationships, finances, sickness – the Bible has wisdom to help you set boundaries to change how you handle your situation. You’ll find that godly boundaries make your relationships healthier, make you feel better, and help you keep your finances in order and under control.

With God’s help, you can manage your life and not let it manage you. This is what it means to live within the boundaries of God’s Word…and not on the edge.