Freedom or Bondage

"For I have told him that will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows,
because his sons made themselves wile, and he did not restrain them.: 1 Samuel 3:13

I read a story about a boy who stole something small and his mother didn't punish him. When he stole something bigger she just praised him. As the boy became a man he just kept on stealing until one day he got caught. Just before his sentence was carried out he turned and looked at his mother and shouted angrily at her and said "If you had punished me when I first stole something it would not have come to this." This man's life was ruined because his mother did not love him enough to punish him nor did she give him boundaries. And he ended up hating his mother. Children can live without new toys, better clothes and trips to Disney World but they can not thrive without boundaries.
A study was done on two groups of school children. The one group was sent out to recess. The playground had no fence around it so the children ran free where ever they pleased. When the bell rang and they had to come in from recess they had a hard time settling down. But the other group went out for recess and this playground had a fence around it. The children knew that was their boundary and they couldn't play beyond it. When they were called in they had no problem settling down in the classroom. And there were less behavior problems in the classroom.

It may seem strange but limits are an important part of our freedom.


And if there are no boundaries there will be bondage.