Rewriting Your Life Script? Set Boundaries - Part 2

Opportunities for making significant changes in one’s lifestyle rarely occur. When it does happen the opportunity may slip away if the willingness to be accountable is missing. Taking responsibility for the cost or sacrifice that change demands is the issue. A young woman desperately wanted her marriage to heal from the anger and jealousy that had torn it apart. 

For reconciliation to be possible she would have to change her inordinate attachment and dependency on her parents. Her husband refused to reconcile until she was willing to set boundaries on her parent’s influence and control. Throughout her marriage, she had blamed her husband for their ever-present conflict.

Although this young woman's intentions were sincere, she refused to enforce the boundaries she knew were needed. Mature love is what adults crave and seek, but becomes possible only when God’s instructions to leave parents and cleave to each other are set in motion. While this may be difficult, God will provide the means to do so where a firm choice is set in place.

Overcome Obstructions: Submit to God - Part 1

Relationships thrive where peace is present. Peace is listed after love and joy in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said he would give peace to those who put their faith and trust in him. The peace he promised is not a fragile peace like the world gives, but the peace of God identified as a fruit of the Spirit that gives believers confidence.

Satan creates obstructions to negate God’s peace and must be confronted with the armor Jesus makes available to Christians to protect them from attempts to negate the peace Jesus provides. Blaming others for our shortcomings and failures is an obstruction we choose when we, by our own volition, submit to temptation.

While there are many obstructions, God provides ways to overcome every hurdle and stumbling block. When we stand ready to be accountable for our failures by seeking forgiveness, God restores the peace he promised. “When you seek God with all your heart, He will be found.”  This is an affirmation that secures peace for the weary soul.  

Seize Opportunity: It's Our Responsibility - Part 1

What makes human beings unique from other species is our ability to feel and think and to come to logical conclusions. Listen to Hebrews 2:7 from J. B. Phillips' The New Testament in Contemporary English. "What is man and woman that you bother with them; why take a second look their way? You made them not quite as high as angels. Then you put them in charge of your world."

With responsibility comes opportunity, but also accountability for how choices are managed. Another component of responsibility is submissiveness, which in its healthiest sense demands compliance and obedience to authority. Submissiveness implies honesty and truthfulness, which are an absolute necessity for every facet of life.

If opportunity is not seized at the moment of availability, it may be forever lost. Opportunity may mean saving a relationship that has deteriorated, but could with major effort be turned around. God puts us at the crossroads of life to offer us a chance to evaluate what's important. Submitting to that opportunity is your choice.

Created for Relationship - Part 3

An issue all marriages encounter is who is to be submissive to whom and to what degree. Equality includes equal power, different but equal roles, as well as opportunities to express the talents and skills each person brings to the relationship. Ephesians 5:21 offers this advice, "Submit one to another out of reverence for Christ."

What does the word accountability mean to you? Everyone has to answer to someone. Even gang members have this responsibility. Those who refuse face severe consequences. Most human beings comply with being accountable where assurance of personal safety exists. Submissiveness means more than yielding to the desires of another person.

In the healthiest sense, submissiveness means to be accountable to another person. The apostle Paul indicates that relationships should reflect our relationship with Christ Jesus. We are accountable to God for our behavior and our thoughts. God encourages us to consistently submit and be accountable to his kindness, love, and power.