Boundary or Character
by Ray Warfel, Jr.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Have you seen the warning labels on some products and thought, "Who needs to be told that?" I don’t have any, so I can’t check, but I would guess that after the Tide Pod situations a few years ago, there is a warning label clearly saying, “Do not eat.” You know they put those on their products; every warning label is there because somebody did what it warns against. Why do we have so many laws and rules? Because people are out here doing wild things, but you know nobody needs a law saying love, joy, peace, and so on are good things.
In this letter, Paul shows that Christians are not justified or made holy by perfect adherence to the law. He even says Jesus set us free so we can enjoy freedom. Now, that does not exactly mean that you are at liberty to do whatever you want. I often use a bird or fish as an illustration. A caged bird is set free, and it is most free when flying overhead. Free as a bird, right? Or a fish swimming freely in the ponds, or lakes, or even the wide ocean. But a fish who flops up on land wouldn’t be free even if that was right where he wanted to go. Or a bird deciding to leave its flock and join a school of fish.
Sometimes within church groups we focus careful attention on the line between right and wrong. Drunkenness is condemned in Scripture, so we spend time discussing how many drinks constitute drunkenness; some think it is just one. The Bible encourages modesty, so we discuss where the line is—how high on the bottom end, how low on the top end. Do you think this fixation on the line- how close to the line can we get- betrays a law-and-works-based mindset?
The Bible absolutely does give us moral boundaries. Drunkenness is wrong; sexual immorality is wrong; modesty matters; self-control matters. So, asking where Scripture draws a boundary isn't inherently legalistic. But when the boundary becomes the goal, something has gone wrong. A person asking: “How much can I drink without technically being drunk?” is asking a different question from: “What kind of life produces sobriety, self-control, and love for other people?” Likewise, “How short can my clothes be?” is different from: “How can I carry myself in a way that reflects Christ and honors other people?” The first questions are boundary questions. The second questions are character questions.
The question isn't always, “Is this allowed?” Maybe a better question is, “Is this helping me become the person God is making me?”
