This past Saturday, my husband went out to mow the yard. Yes, it was November 30, but because we live in Texas, the grass keeps growing, and the yard has to be mowed periodically, even during what passes for winter. So out he went.
The kids, of course, wanted to go out and play since Daddy was back there. I gave them permission, and they ran outside toward the swing set and our large backyard.
There came a point where my husband had to unlock and open the back gate in our fence and mow a narrow strip of grass between our fence and the alley. As he was doing so, Lindsey came running up to him, begging to be allowed out in the alley. “Pretty please?” she pleaded.
My husband said yes. It’s not a well-trafficked area (we hardly ever have vehicles coming through our alley), and besides, he was going to be right there. Lindsey bounded out past our back fence, exulting, “I’ve never been out here before. This is great!”
She had a grand time playing beyond the boundaries of our fence. And as I’ve said, she was safe.
On the other hand, when you and I go not beyond the boundaries of our yards but beyond God’s boundaries, are not nearly so safe. In fact, we are guaranteed to be in danger.
God has fenced off certain areas of life from us, knowing that on the other side lurk sin, danger, and death. But sometimes, we ignore the fences (in other words, His commandments) that He’s put up, and we blithely venture beyond them.
“This is great!” we exclaim. “I’m having so much fun!”
But make no mistake about it: this kind of fun brings consequences. Yes, sin appears to be fun for awhile (Satan is well capable of making sin appear fun and exciting, so that people will want to commit it), but it’s only a matter of time before the consequences come crashing in.
Sometimes, those consequences will be obvious, such as broken relationships or even getting arrested. Other times, they will be less obvious, when they don’t seem to come immediately or when the consequences are spiritual distance between ourselves and God.
But there will be some kind of consequences. Oh, yes, there will be.
And that is why God has warned us to keep out of certain areas and away from certain activities. Not because He’s a killjoy, but because He wants to keep us away from danger. Not because He wants to take all the fun out of life, but because He wants to spare us from the sorrow that sin ultimately brings.
We make a terrible mistake when we assume that God’s got it backwards—that the stuff He has forbidden is what will make us truly happy, or that we really won’t be harmed by it like He’s said He will.
Eve would have understood. When Satan, disguised as a serpent, was trying to tempt her to eat the forbidden fruit, he said, “Did God really say you’ll be harmed by it?” Eve began to doubt God. She made her choice, and the rest is history.
You and I have the chance not to pass that history on to our own children. Yes, we all bear a sin nature now, including our precious kids. But what we don’t have to pass down is the idea that God doesn’t know what He’s talking about and is merely out to destroy our fun. Instead, we can show our children what it looks like to remain willingly within God’s boundaries, and what kind of joy that brings—not the least of which is joy knowing that you are exactly where God wants you.
Is there something with which you’re out playing in the back alley? Return to the yard. Come back inside the fence. Repent, which means to tell God you’re sorry and acknowledge that you never should have been outside the yard in the first place and won’t go back. That’s where your joy will begin—in being forgiven and restored to fellowship with the Lover of Your Soul.
Not in playing beyond the boundaries.
Psalm 119:9-10—With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
