Boundaries

The NFL is full of sermon illustrations lately.
Their decision making is full of fodder for my blog.

One of my favorite teams is the New Orleans Saints.
They are the classic underdog that fights like a Rocky Balboa boxing movie.

Today the news story broke that they are GUILTY
of putting up cash bounties to "take out players".

In 2009 they had a $10,000 bounty to knock Bret Farve
out of the championship football game.

So most of their coaching staff have a year suspension of some kind.
It sounds like a mess with far reaching impacts.

WHAT spiritual application can be drawn from this goat rodeo?

When they interviewed the coaches, they tried to clarify that the bounty
started out as a positive thing. As a motivational tool to reward players
for excellent performance.

Well, their original motives may have been pure but it is difficult to keep
passionate people coloring inside the lines.

Have you ever started on the right path, making healthy decisions, only
to find yourself elbow deep in offended friends trying to explain
how things went so badly?

Your spiritual take-away from this is: "Set your boundaries on what Gods Word teaches you NOT on what a church denomination or strong religious personality imposes on you".

What lines will you cross and what lines will you avoid at all costs.

At the Bible College I went to, the rule book was something like 500 pages.
They had a rule for every situation and occasion.
I frequently asked about the reasoning behind some of the more off-the-wall
rules. For instance, it was a serious rule violation for men to wear any shirt
that was any shade of pink. And NO, they never could really explain that one.

Why do women have to wear nylons at all times?
Why do men have to have their shirts tucked in at all times?
Ladies can't wear sneakers, men cannot have beards.
You can't sit next to a member of the opposite sex in a church service
more than twice per semester without a courting pass.
You must submit to car search at any given time.

This list goes on for hundreds of pages.
My point is, what started as guidelines to provide safeguards, got confused and rather than providing protection, keeping the rules became the focus.

Instead of having guidelines that provided a safe environment for young people to learn and grow into maturity -- keeping the rules mutated into the thing that pleased God.

My point is this, you need to know where your boundaries with sin are and stay clear of them. But things that are gray areas, don't let them get out of control and take on a life of their own.

I remember hearing it preached from the pulpit that it was a sin to go to a movie theater. Yet you could go to the pastors house and watch the same movie on video.

My rule is: "What Gods Word holds firm -- I hold firm. What Gods Word holds loose -- I hold loose".

"In everything you do, put God first,
and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success." 
Proverbs 3: 5-6
 
"So ever since we fist heard about you
we have kept on praying and asking God
to help you understand what He wants you to do;
asking Him to make you wise about spiritual things;
and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor Him,
so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others,
while all the time you are learning to know God better and better, 
We are praying, too, that you will be filled with His mighty,
glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens --
always full of the joy of the Lord, and always thankful to the Father
who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things
that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light." 
Colossians 1: 9-12