Is that Stop Sign Moving? – Part 2

Before I wrote the blog, Is That Stop Sign Moving, I ran the boundaries idea by a friend. Her response was, “Are you writing about how very bad stepping over the line can be, or about how great it can be if you don’t set boundaries on what the Lord is allowed to do in your life?” Since you’ve read the post, you know I wrote about the negative side – what happens when you ignore the boundaries God has set for you.

Today I will focus on the positive – what happens when you remove the barriers that keep God from working in your life?

Several years ago I participated in a Stations of the Cross devotional series on Wednesday nights from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. Members of the church were allowed to volunteer, pick a scripture from a list, and then, using our creative gifts, visually present the parts of the Easter story and lead the discussion. My scripture was:

Matthew 27:1-2 ESV  When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. ² And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

Two phrases jumped off the page at me: “When morning came” and “they bound him.”

First light is such a wondrous time of day. One hymn calls morning, “God’s recreation of the new day.” Can you picture God, a twinkle in His eye, thinking, “How shall I bless my children this morning?  He makes the decision and sends the details to the day’s sky painters. A friend who is a painter can’t wait to get to Heaven so she can paint a “real” sunrise.

In the two weeks I had to complete my part of the presentation I took pictures of the morning sky everyday. I was amazed at how different every sky presented – some vibrant colors, some dull grays and one snowy day in March, the sky, the yard, and the trees were all pink. I used poster paper to make a super-sized photo album using scrapbooking techniques.

Playing against the beauty of morning, we see religious, learned men creating ugliness. And then “they bound Him.” I know the binding of Jesus was physical, but it also strikes me that they bound him in ways that kept him from doing what He came to do. To illustrate this, I had the attendees pair off. I gave each of them a length of rough cording and had them work as a pair to tie it on each other’s wrist.

I asked them to wear the rope bracelet for the remainder of the Lenten season to remind them to think about binding and loosing. I’ll give you the same questions I gave them.

Are there things in your life that you are holding onto that should be loosed? Attitudes, habits, behaviors, speech patterns, actions and more?  Are there ways you have bound or hindered God? His plan is to pour out the riches of Glory for you. Have you set boundaries that have tied His hands? What He has for us is so much better than anything we can accumulate for ourselves.

“Father, my heart sings praise to You today for the gift of this beautiful day. My heart aches that I might hinder Your work today. My heart rejoices in knowing You love me, just the way I am, but You won’t leave me this way because You want more for me than that. Amen” 

Serve the Lord with gladness today-

Cathy