I am LOVING this new book I am reading called, "FlashBang: How I got over myself". It's such a funny one. I find myself snickering from my lofted bed, only to find my roommate confused and staring at me like I am a nut. But along with the funny stories comes a great message. Here is an excerpt from last nights chapter on freedom.
"Lets follow the path: God creates man. God gives man freedom. Freedom to choose. Freedom to grow. Freedom to take God's plan and run with it. But those freedoms aren't enough for man. Man wants more than what God wants him to have. Man wants to do whatever man wants to do when ever he feels like doing it.So man choses freedom that wasn't intended for him. And man does whatever he wants. All the things man does outside of God's plan have repercussions. Consequences. Man doesn't like how that feels, so what does man do? Man attempts to create more freedoms that allow him to ignore the consequences created by his old freedoms."
Crazy, huh? We were given the right to free will, but we weren't given the right to full freedom. We would be an unruly, all over the place- bunch of crazies.
I remember as a child going to a beach house in Boca Grande, FL with my family. My dad would give me boundaries on where I was to stay while playing at the beach. I knew I wasn't to go past the neighboring condos. I never stepped out of those boundaries. I knew that if I did, it would inevitably find trouble. (That's usually what happens to me when I am somewhere I am not supposed to be.) My dad set those boundaries up to keep me safe. He was, unknowingly, portraying a characteristic of God our Father.
Boundaries are what keep us in tact; sane. They are set up to keep us from hurting ourselves. Yet, we look at them as something that holds us back from achieving greatness. Whereas it really doesn't. Do you think that God would hold his child back from achieving his or her calling? Do you think he would set up boundaries and have our desires far outside of them? NO! He wants us to live a pure and holy life here in this fallen world. I started to think of some of the areas I have been creating freedoms in. There are a lot. It's time I identify the Kristina-made freedoms and the God-given freedoms. His are probably a thousand times better. I'm taking a look at my boundaries and they are not as small as I imagined... actually they are huge! I feel a life change coming on....
I remember as a child going to a beach house in Boca Grande, FL with my family. My dad would give me boundaries on where I was to stay while playing at the beach. I knew I wasn't to go past the neighboring condos. I never stepped out of those boundaries. I knew that if I did, it would inevitably find trouble. (That's usually what happens to me when I am somewhere I am not supposed to be.) My dad set those boundaries up to keep me safe. He was, unknowingly, portraying a characteristic of God our Father.
Boundaries are what keep us in tact; sane. They are set up to keep us from hurting ourselves. Yet, we look at them as something that holds us back from achieving greatness. Whereas it really doesn't. Do you think that God would hold his child back from achieving his or her calling? Do you think he would set up boundaries and have our desires far outside of them? NO! He wants us to live a pure and holy life here in this fallen world. I started to think of some of the areas I have been creating freedoms in. There are a lot. It's time I identify the Kristina-made freedoms and the God-given freedoms. His are probably a thousand times better. I'm taking a look at my boundaries and they are not as small as I imagined... actually they are huge! I feel a life change coming on....
