Rhythms and Boundaries
Mature - Part 5
November 2, 2025
“37He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38This is the greatest and most important command. 39The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.’” Matthew 22:37-40 (CSB)
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” - Westminster Catechism
Boundaries help us glorify God with order and obedience.
Rhythm helps us enjoy Him with rest and delight.
Four ways we are horrible at rhythms and boundaries:
- Relationally: we let everyone speak into our soul.
- Physically: we treat our bodies like tools, not temples.
- Emotionally: we give out energy we don’t have.
- Mentally: we leave our thoughts unguarded and our peace unprotected.
Creating Sacred Space
1. Relational Boundaries → Guard Your Heart
“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (CSB)
“One with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 (CSB)
Maturity isn’t about shutting people out; it’s about letting the right people in.
→ Boundary Principle: Not every voice deserves access; only those who help you love God and people better.
Only the people who can fit on a 1x1-inch sticky note.
When you’re trying to live a brave life, you only take feedback from people who are also being brave—the people who love you, not despite your vulnerability, but because of it.
So the exercise goes:
- Take a small sticky note—yes, literally small.
- Write down the names of people who love you for who you are—not what you do, produce, or post.
- Keep it somewhere visible as a filter.
If someone’s name isn’t on that note, their feedback doesn’t get to define you.
2. Emotional Boundaries → Protect Your Soul
“1Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I do not get involved with things too great or too wondrous for me. 2Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like a weaned child.” Psalm 131:1-2 (CSB)
Emotional health isn’t about avoiding problems—it’s about guarding peace.
You can’t carry everyone’s crisis and still carry your calling.
Healthy emotions come from holy margins—when your soul is quiet, God’s voice gets louder.
→ Boundary Principle: Creating emotional boundaries honors God by keeping your soul anchored in His presence. Saying “no” isn’t unloving; it’s protecting your capacity to love deeply.
3. Physical Boundaries → Steward Your Body
“19Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CSB)
God designed your body.
→ That means it has purpose. (Psalm 139)
God dwells in your body.
→ That means it has dignity. (1 Cor. 6:19)
God deserves glory through your body.
→ That means it requires discipline. (1 Cor. 6:20)
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.” Romans 12:1 (CSB)
“For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8 (CSB)
Loving God with your strength means stewarding your physical energy as worship.
“Stewarding our bodies can serve the soul, honor God, and bless others.” - David Mathis (A Little Theology of Exercise)
Exercise, rest, and health aren’t about vanity—they’re about vitality for mission.
Movement is a gift of grace, not a pursuit of glory.
When we move our bodies, we train our minds; when we rest, we trust God.
→ Boundary Principle: Don’t worship God with your lips and ignore Him with your lifestyle.
4. Mind Boundaries → Renew Your Thoughts
“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (CSB)
We don’t just need time off work—we need time off worry.
We need filters not just on our phones but on our thoughts.
“Physical rhythm sharpens mental focus.” - David Mathis (A Little Theology of Exercise)
What you set your mind on is either building you or breaking you.
“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (CSB)
→ Boundary Principle: Guard your inputs by filtering them through the Bible.
Maturity isn’t more activity—it’s finding the rhythm and boundaries of grace that keeps your soul alive.
Rest isn’t laziness—it’s trust.
- Schedule intentional rest days; treat them like appointments with God.
- Power down your phone an hour before bed.
- Take a Sabbath walk or nap without guilt.
- Say “no” to one unnecessary commitment this week.