As an exchange student, I was jogging one of the many country roads around the university with another guy from the exchange program who was a self-described hedonist and freethinker. we've had a number of conversations together, and everytime I tried to share my faith with Him he never failed to scoff the message I presented. He tells me that I am so bound to my religion, and that I should be freed from my narrow-mindedness.
A pastor-friend of mine is getting married - tie the knot as they say, on Sunday. He's doing a countdown to the day he will be tethered on his facebook page.
On a similar thread, last Sunday, Pastor Luis preached on having secure foundations. He mentioned how we should determine the to keep ourselves anchored on/tied to God and His Word.
Everyone knows that boundaries are necessary.
We are most free when we are like a kite.
Now think about a kite. When is a kite most free?
When it is separated from all restraints or when it’s tethered?
John Newton, slave trader turned repentant pastor, author of the hymn Amazing Grace, once authored a poem called “The Kite” or “Pride Must Have a Fall.” In that poem the kite wishes that it would be free from all restraints so that it could really soar. Here’s one verse from the poem:
Were I but free, I’d take a flight
and pierce the clouds beyond their sight
But, ah, like a prisoner bound
My string confines me near the ground.[1]
As the poem goes on, the kite ultimately gets free of its restraint. But is it able to soar? No, it crashes into the sea.
When we buck all God’s restrain, we do not become free, we become subject to cultural, emotional, philosophical captivity.[2]
Not very long ago, I was sitting comfortably in a couch at the church's lobby when a woman who was waiting for her younger daughter sat across me. After some casual "hellos" I asked about her older daughter. There was a huge sigh before she opened her mouth to speak. "I'm afraid she's lost...and it all started when she got into showbiz...She has accepted daring roles. She thinks she's free but she really isn't." "Ma'am," I told her "she'll come crawling back one of these days realizing that she's bound and needs to be freed."
Let’s affirm that God really does have our best interest at stake when He lays before us His parameters...Whenever we violate those boundaries we do not become free. We begin to plunge in lifestyles that are self-destructive spiritually and physically.[3]
Boundaries are meant to help us remain free. Ironic as that sounds, it's true!
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1 A Larger Wisdom "The Kite" by John Newton, Dr. Ronald Scates HPPC Dallas July 6, 2008
2 ibid
3 ibid
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