BOUNDARIES

Look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth… Isaiah 45:22

My Ethiopian friend Getch is an evangelist extraordinaire. Leading people to Jesus is his passion, and discipling them is a close second. But he cautions, “Boundaries are important. For every little thing, a new convert comes to you. But you have to teach [him] to rely on God. Jesus is the Savior, not you.”

It’s easy to become addicted to being needed, to the idea that someone might not succeed without you. And it’s easy to take that same distorted sense of necessity and transform it into control. When that happens, we turn that soul away from Jesus and to ourselves. As soon as someone gets sight of Jesus, we must decrease so that he can increase.

I once had a counselor tell me that I was coming between someone I loved and Jesus every time I intervened in his life. Just the opposite of what I wanted to do. I had to discipline myself to let go.

Establishing parameters is important to protect healthy relationships between ourselves and others, but we also have to draw those lines to keep us from tinkering with God’s work in his children.

Dear Lord, teach us to be instruments of your use. Remind us that you are the Source, and we are merely conduits through which you work. Let there be nothing of us that comes between you and what you long to do in all your children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.