The title the Lord gave me for this article may seem a bit odd to you, but read on, and it will show you His heart toward you.  This title came to me the other day as I was driving past a speed limit sign.  The posted speed limit was 70 mph, and I had my cruise control sitting right on 70.  The Lord spoke clearly to my spirit these words: If you’re going the speed limit, you’re on the very edge of lawlessness.  OK, LORD, what are you telling me here?  Then the Lord proceeded to share the following with me:  Speed limit 70 means that is the maximum speed you are allowed to drive.  Anything above that and you are breaking the law.  Some drive at the maximum allowable speed limit, but most go beyond into lawlessness.  Many of My children operate the same way.
   I asked, How so, Lord?  He said, Many of My children say they love me, but yet they speed and break the laws of the land.  How are they honoring Me by being lawless?  The Lord and I had this conversation some 15 years ago about this, prompting me to put the following sign in the back window of my van; “Honest People Don’t Speed”.  I remember that day like it was yesterday. Someone with a Jesus sticker on their bumper passed me above the speed limit so fast, it seemed like I was sitting along the road changing a tire or something.  I asked the Lord, Why don’t people honor you the way they should?  He said, If my people won’t honor the speed limit signs that they CAN see, how do you expect them to honor ME, whom they CANNOT see?  Wow!  It isn’t about speeding, it’s about honoring God with all we do in word or deed.  You wouldn’t believe all the dirty looks I got through the years from people as I drove that van.  Some even told me; “Yes, honest people DO speed!”  I would reply, No, they DON’T, for if they were honest, they wouldn’t be breaking the law.  Think about it, and make whatever adjustments you need to regarding that one.
Many say they are Christians, and yet, according to the way many of us represent God, the unsaved world would think God is an outlaw!  Shame on us! 
   We humans all have the same inbred traits:  If the law says we can drive 70, we want to go 80  Why is this?  We are all born rebels by nature.  If a mother tells her child not to get in the cookie jar, as soon as Mom turns her back, guess who’s in the cookie jar?  Not you, right?  Uh huh, right!  You forgot to wipe the cookie crumbs off your mouth.  Have you ever observed a dog chained to a stake in a yard?  That dog has all the area within the circle where the chain reaches, yet it continually runs the small ring around the outer edge, the farthest it can reach from the stake.  Christians do the same thing.  They forget all the “free area” within the outer bounds of God’s love, and they want to tug and pull on the leash to find out what is beyond the outer limits.  Animals and Christians do the same thing, sticking their heads under a fence to reach the grass on the other side of the fence that is supposedly greener.  Hello?? Are your ears burning a little?
   And we wonder why we don’t live in the abundance of God’s blessings?  Could it be possible we are pulling on the leash instead of happily enjoying all the area we can freely roam within God’s grace?  There is so much freedom and joy we can experience within the boundaries of God’s love. 
   Yet the devil continually, and I mean CONTINUALLY tries to lure us to come over to the edge of the fence.  Now I’m talking to YOU!!   And once he has you there, he will try to convince you the grass is greener on the OTHER side of the fence.  And soon you’ve forgotten all the green grass where you already are.
 The Lord Jesus said this in John, Chapter 15:
Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Joh 15:9  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
Joh 15:11  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
    God isn’t trying to take your joy away, but rather to make you joyful.  But there is one who is doing all he can to destroy your joy, trying to convince you that your joy is in the world, among the ungodly, lawless ones.  Beware of him, for he is the enemy of your soul, he hates you with a cruel hatred, and if you listen to him long enough, you will want what he has to offer.  And even though everything he has to offer is deadly poison, he will coat it in your favorite chocolate so you will gobble it up.  Once sin becomes attractive to you, it’s only a matter of time before it will destroy you. 
    There have been many who once had powerful ministries for the Lord, who have longed for fame and money, who would rather make a name for themselves rather than glorify God.  They have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  Satan has lured them through the love of money, lust of the eyes, pride and envy, and has taken them captive at his will.  But they helped the devil along, you know.  He can’t lure you if you won’t look and listen!  Look again at the scriptures above, the Lord Jesus admonished us to abide in Him, and His words.  He said, Ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.  Does this sound like the words of one who doesn’t want you to enjoy life?
    My beloved friends, the grass is greener on God’s side of the fence, and you’re free to roam anywhere within His borders of protection.  Don’t let the devil fool you.  Living on the edge of God’s permissive will is hazardous to your spiritual health.  Trying to live with one foot in God’s Kingdom and one foot in the world will rob you of God’s best every time.  Don’t live on the edge of lawlessness!