- Boundaries are necessary, good, and life-enhancing. A culture gets murkier when we forget that. Abundance increases when we remember it.
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free!
That is according to one of the most famous sentences of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. And in its proper context, Paul articulates necessary truth. But we should never get the wrong idea about freedom. True liberty is full of constraints.
In 1960, two men made a bet for the relatively meager amount of $50. Bennett Cerf, founder of Random House, proposed that Theo Geisel couldn’t write an entertaining children’s book using only 50 different words. Geisel knew he could and went to work.
From that wager came the volume known as Green Eggs and Ham. Geisel is known to us, of course, as Dr. Seuss. Green Eggs went on to sell millions of copies. A fair analysis of the word “entertaining” would suggest why Geisel also lifted 50 bucks from Cerf. From the constraint of 50 words came a wonderfully hilarious book that has delighted children for decades. Constraints are not the enemy. Every artist has a limited set of tools to work with. Every athlete has a limited set of skills to train with. Every entrepreneur has a limited amount of resources to build with. Once you recognize your constraints, you creatively figure out how to work within them.
Biblically, the Torah (first five books of the Bible) provides all kinds of constraints – 613, to be exact. The basic message of most of those laws is, “Don’t DO that!” (There are positive iterations of these laws as well; 248 positive commandments to 365 negative commandments). Those who want to leave behind the restrictions of the Old Testament should probably be reminded that there are over a thousand imperatives in the New.
Both during the biblical era and in the years since, there are ample examples of both the blessing and creativity that has accrued to those who accept the moral constraints of Scripture and the disaster that awaits those who cast them aside with shouts of “Freedom!” Constraint is the stuff of abundant life, it would seem.
I have just returned from the West Coast, where my wife and I were asked to lead a marriage seminar. As part of that presentation, I give a short message about constraints. In 2011, on one of the most popular evangelical television shows, the host was asked what advice he should give a friend who was seeing another woman since his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her,” the host opined.
One of the lowest moments of modern-day evangelicalism, in one sentence.
In contrast, I like to present a recording of Robert McQuilken, then-president of Columbia International University for 22 years. At 57 he discovered that his wife had Alzheimer’s. Her memory faded and her behavior became irrational.
But McQuilken was constrained by love and his marriage vows. He knew what he had to do. He resigned his presidency to care for his wife. His words to the faculty: “I haven’t in my life experienced easy decision making on major decisions. But one of the simplest and clearest decisions I’ve had to make, is this one, because circumstances dictated it. Muriel, in the last couple months, seems to be most happy when with me, and almost never happy when not with me. In fact, she seems to feel trapped, fearful, almost terrified, and when she can’t get to me…But when I’m with her, she’s happy and contented. So I must be with her at all times. You see, I promised in sickness and in health till death do us part, and I’m a man of my word. It is the only fair thing. She sacrificed for me for 40 years, to make my life possible. So, if I cared for her for 40 years, I’d still be in debt. However, it is much more. It is not that I have to, it is that I get to. I love her very dearly…She’s a delight. It is a great honor to care for such a wonderful person.”
There is no love, holiness, or righteousness without constraints. Boundaries are necessary, good, and life-enhancing. A culture gets murkier when we forget that. Abundance increases when we remember it.
