Misplaced Boundaries

 

It was the last day of my summer job before I was off to college. Let's be kind and say I was in a frivolous mood. (we could turn hard and say I was a jerk)

 

Having spent the morning unloading bags of concrete, the early afternoon cutting concrete pipe with a pick, and now having finished digging a ditch with a shovel, I was tired too. Then my eyes saw them - stakes with brightly colored ribbons on them, where the surveyors had just finished laying out the confines of another building's foundation.

 

Something within me saw that as an opportunity to thumb my nose at my bosses, and have some fun too. So I went over and carefully moved each stake. Not a whole lot, maybe a foot here or there. And I was careful to not leave evidence of what had happened.

 

I went off to school, came back the next summer to the same construction area. But this time I didn't get a job with the construction crew. No, this time I was hired by Gostin Surveying.

 

Yep. Same folks.

 

As the summer went by, I learned a lot about the science of surveying. How precise it had to be, how trusted the surveyor was, and how everything depended on his ability to trust old, sometimes in the eyes of an 18 year old, ancient, boundary markers.

 

You could say my perspective changed.

 

The last day of the summer, I summoned up enough courage to tell Mr. Lester what I had done. To my great relief, he laughed for a good minute and finally told me "we spotted it the next day. Once you know what's right, where the boundaries are, you just know."

 

Folks, the next time you meet someone whose not a believer in Jesus, think about this story.

 

They've heard so many times, seen so many times - the "Christians" around them not living up to their Master's standards that they sometimes break those standards too, just because they want to prove no one will ever lay down a boundary around their life. 



Then love breaks through.



Acts 3:26 (Msg)   But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, \nfrom your evil ways."



As they become believers, meet Jesus and understand how His love and sacrifice didn't draw those lines until He first laid His life on the line for them, and everything changes.



They live to please God, to obey His Word, not because they are afraid of Him, but because they see life - their life, through His eyes. Friends, the best way you can help your neighbor home is by being true in your own walk with Jesus. Earn the right to be heard by your actions, and once the door opens, tell them about Jesus.



Grace!



David