BOUNDARIES

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where He prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed, ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ So He travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons (Mark 1: 35-39).

‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ What a remarkable man! A lesser person may have been so excited about his popularity and the success of his ministry that he would have found an office and set up his headquarters right there in Capernaum.

Not Jesus! He wasn’t out to build a ministry and set up a data base of supporters so He could send out His newsletter every month and garner “partners” for His ministry. He had a twofold mission to accomplish – to reveal the Father to His people and to train disciples who would be replicas of Himself so that they would carry on His ministry when He was no longer there. It was a hands-on, on-the-job training programme.

His power came, not from the support He could build based on His popularity and His “seeker friendly” methods. His source of power was simple – prayer, much prayer, early-morning prayer when there was no one around to clamour for His attention. He was in partnership with His heavenly Father, energised by the Holy Spirit.

He had to touch base every day to ensure that He maintained His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit and did exactly what He was instructed to do. This was, after all, the Father’s business and He was the Son. Only through submission and obedience to the Father would Jesus succeed. The success of His enterprise would come, not from His methods but from the Holy Spirit who came upon Him at His baptism and who put Him through His paces in the wilderness. The principles were hammered out there and He would stick to them, no matter what.

This meant that He had to set boundaries. He was not driven by people’s need. He was led by the Holy Spirit. The fact that people were up and out at the crack of dawn looking for Him was not His motivation. He had a much wider mission to accomplish than healing all the sick people in one town. He had a message to deliver to the whole nation. He was not deterred or held up by people in need in one locality.

Jesus had not come from heaven on a healing campaign, as urgent and necessary as that was in Israel. Healing and casting out demons was not an end in itself but a demonstration of what God’s reign would be like when He came in His fullness. Satan’s rule had brought misery and suffering to the human race because people allowed him to deceive them into thinking he was in charge. It was time for the people to know the truth.

When God is in charge, everything that is contrary to God will be defeated and destroyed. Love and all the ramifications of love, will be the ruling principle. There will be no place in His kingdom for any imperfection. Attitudes and behaviour that represent the dominion of darkness will be gone forever. That’s what Jesus came to show His people. He would conquer disease, death and demons and with them all the ugly emotions and attitudes that mess people up and destroy relationships.

He would not allow anyone or anything to deter or distract Him from His purpose. He walked away from Capernaum because He had a message to deliver everywhere. Not His disciples, not the clamouring crowd, not the promise of success or popularity, nothing would stop Him from following the Father’s directions. He knew His boundaries. He drew His boundaries. His disciples would just have to get used to Him if they were to learn His ways.

What if those of us who think we are His disciples were to take a leaf out of His book? What if we were to get our directions daily from the Holy Spirit and not from our plans and strategies? What If we were to draw boundaries around our times of interaction with the Father and His directives and allow nothing to distract us and pull us off course?

What if we were to spend more time seeking the kingdom of God than we do building our own kingdoms?

What if we were to understand the heart of Jesus and do what He did – bring heaven to earth where we are by being like Him? How effective would that be?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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