God establishes boundaries.

He set boundaries for the waters: that they would be gathered together and go only so far and no further. He has relegated the sun, moon and stars to their places and to their times and to their duties. And, i believe that in His love, God sets boundaries for us. He makes a path straight in front of us. His still small voice whispers behind us saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

Is it possible to step outside that path? Is it possible to involve ourselves in works that God did not prepare for us? Would it have been possible for John to keep baptizing. Personally, i think, to a certain extent, “yes”.

Remember when our Great, great, great, great, great… grandparents were building the tower of Babel? God said,

“nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them”Genesis 11:6.

God did not desire for them to build that tower because it was NOT good for them. They were, however, able. In that case, God helped them out by confusing their language and scattering them lest they accomplish their purpose and have to live with the horrible results.

We have plenty of examples of people accomplishing things that God does not desire, i.e. things that they did not find in Christ; things they found in their own hearts. I think some of God’s boundaries are… soft, transgressable. If the heart wants to, it can jump the fence and mess with stuff that is off the path of God.

My point is this: just because you see a need for a good work doesn’t mean you are supposed to meet it. Just because you are able to do some good work doesn’t mean you should do it. We always need to come back to the question, “Has it been given to me from heaven?”

On earth, Jesus did only what He saw His Father doing. One time, people were hungry and wanted another miracle lunch and He didn’t give it to them. He didn’t heal every person on the planet or raise every body from the grave (yet!) He got an invitation to preach more good news of the Kingdom in a certain city; He turned it down. It would have been a very “good” work if Jesus had accepted the position of political ruler and freed His people from oppression and established justice in their system, but He didn’t (yet!) Jesus perceived the boundaries of His calling, and it was His joy to walk within them with His Father. He did only the things that were given Him from heaven.

I can tell you that along my path i have definitely involved myself in some “good” works that were not given to me from heaven, and it stinks! It stinks for me and for the people i’m trying to “give” to! Why, because it’s not something that came from heaven, it came from my heart. And, if you recall, the human heart is full of all kinds of nasty stuff; and mine is no exception.

Ah, but walking in a work that has been given to you from heaven: there’s nothing like it! Not to say it’s necessarily easy or constantly blissful; but it is blessed.

So, i would encourage us to not confuse ability with obligation or even permission. God makes us adequate, able as ministers of the new covenant which is by the Spirit and not by the law. Listen, the law will tell us many things we “should” use our ability for. The Spirit tells us the things that are being given to us from heaven.Those are the things that will minister life to people. Those are the things that will shed the light of Christ. Those are the things that will transform us from glory to glory.

So, what is being given to you from heaven today?