I discussed enjoying life in the last post and in this post I want to expand on how we can enjoy life and not complain.
How do we really enjoy life? Here is one way:
Obey God’s commands – Deuterononmy 4:40
If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children. Then you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time. – NLT
John 14:23-24 23 Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. 24 But anyone who doesn’t love me won’t obey me. What they have heard me say doesn’t really come from me, but from the Father who sent me. – CEV
To really enjoy life you need to know your boundaries. God’s commands give us a boundary. That way we know where we can and cannot go and what we can and cannot do. To know what your boundaries are, is to know freedom. Do you understand that – let me say it again – to know what your boundaries are, is to know freedom.
God is big on giving man freedom and boundaries- freedom to manage what He has entrusted to us. God has given us the boundaries to protect us from evil. The boundaries in the Garden of Eden were not set for the purpose of limiting Adam but to let him know what his freedom was. Adam got into trouble when he questioned those boundaries and so do we. God had provided everything Adam would need for life. He entrusted Adam with responsibility to manage and work the Garden. God gave him freedom in that freedom came responsibility. God made us to express ourselves creatively through our work and he gave Adam that opportunity.
Each of us, in order to really be happy, must have freedom and boundaries in our lives. Whenever you are hired for a job, you must have the freedom to make certain decisions in order to enjoy the job and be effective at it. You must have the authority to manage things within your area of expertise. You must also have limits within your area of responsibility. You need to know where those limits are and stay within them and in doing so will be enjoying what is it you do and you will be effective at what you do. The boundaries make you more effective. In then making the connection back to God we need to understand that both freedom and boundaries are always under the umbrella of God’s authority in our lives and when we live in them we are able to enjoy life and be effective in it.
So to enjoy life,what we need to do is live freely in the boundaries that God gives us. To know those boundaries you must know his Word and that is why imperative that you read the Word of God to learn what your boundaries are and to find the freedom that comes in the Word of God. Are you doing that? Do you know the boundaries that God gives in His Word to give us freedom?
When you know who God is and what His commands are, it make a difference in life. When you know where He has set the boundaries then it really should keep you from complaining. All of this should also help you to really enjoy all you have been blessed with in this life but does it?
So what do you think today? Do you think that boundaries give you freedom? Do you think complainers (us) are out of God’s boundaries when we complain?
