The Blessing of Boundaries – Protecting Your Time, Money & Spirit

I want to talk directly to you today. You love God, you love people. And you've been doing your best to serve.You've been serving at work, you've been serving at home, and maybe you're even serving in church. But if you're honest, you're tired, you wore out. And deep down you're wondering if your schedule is running you instead of you running your schedule.And you feel this guilt. You feel this guilt about saying no. And when you feel that guilt, it only makes you things feel heavier.What if I told you that boundaries aren't barriers, they're actually blessings. And we live in a culture that glorifies the hustle, endless availability and saying yes to everything. But here's the truth.Busyness doesn't equal fruitfulness. I just want you to think about that for just a moment. Busyness, that always being busy doing something doesn't equal fruitfulness.Think about that for just a moment. Busyness doesn't equal fruitfulness. Now I know that's bold. And the numbers don't lie. Workplace burnout is at record highs.Families are being fractured by over commitment and debt levels. They reveal we struggle to set financial limits as well. We found some great statistics for today's show.I want to start by talking about a survey from Deloitte. Now Deloitte is an accounting firm. That's kind of where I live my life in accounting firms.But what they found is 77% of respondents say they have experienced employee burnout in their current job. 77%. A 2025 study reports at 66%, 2/3, 66% of workers are showing signs of job burnout. It's an all time high. And that's right from Forbes.A Grant Thornton State of Work in America survey found that 51% of full time US employees have suffered burnout in the last year. Listen to this. With 63% naming mental and emotional stress as the top cause of that. And listen, at my core, I'm a financial guy.So on the financial side, look at, listen to this one. Total US household debt recently reached $18.04 trillion. Now you'd be like, I don't even understand how that's relevant, Ralph. But think about this.That's up 93 billion from the fourth quarter of 2024. Nearly 48% of Americans believe their household debt negatively affects their health. And 58% report finding it difficult to manage.And I talked about this statistic on my daily show. A bank rate survey found 43% of adults say money negatively affects their mental health. Causing things like anxiety, sleepless nights and stress.That's right, from bank rate. So let me ask you this question again. Is your schedule running you instead of you running it?And even deeper, are your finances dictating your peace or have you set those God honoring boundaries around money? Which leads me to some questions we got. And I felt we needed to discuss these on today's show. Three great questions we got from listeners.This is the first one. As a Christian, I feel guilty saying, no, Ralph, shouldn't I always be serving? Yeah, it does make you feel guilty sometime, doesn't it?Great question. We're going to answer that on the show today. Here's another great question. How do I balance generosity with protecting my family's needs?Yeah, I deal with that one a lot lately. And this question, this is going to make you think for a minute. If Jesus gave his life without limits, am I being unspiritual when I said boundaries?Yeah, that one pierces you a little bit, doesn't it? Because maybe you're sitting there, you're asking yourself that same question. But here's the tension in all that. And this is why I do this show.It's all about culture versus biblical truth. Culture tells us that boundaries are selfish. Oh, you got to do it all. You can't. You can't set boundaries, Ralph.But God's word tells us they're sacred. So the real question today is this.What if the limits you're afraid to set are actually the very thing that God wants to use to protect your peace and multiply your impact? That's what we're going to talk about on today's show. Feeling lost in today's headlines, seeking God's truth for our chaotic culture.Welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. We'll cut through the noise guiding you to biblical discernment for your faith, your finances, and your life. Now here's Ralph Estep Jr. Hi, friend.I'm Ralph Estep Jr. And I just want to welcome you to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. This is the place where we take an honest look at life. And we do that through the lens of God's word. That's why I do this show.And we break down those cultural struggles that we all face. And we uncover hope, we uncover wisdom, and most of all, we find freedom that only Jesus Christ himself can provide.And I want you to know my heart is simple today. I want to help you grow deeper in faith. And I want to help you live with greater clarity, with greater confidence, and really with more purpose.Because, friend, God's Truth changes everything. And I say amen for that. Right, let's get back to today's struggle. Culture views it this way. Boundaries are selfish.I started by saying that today, culture says to us, if you want to succeed, you got to be constantly available, you got to be constantly working, and you. You got to constantly be consuming. I can see you nod in your head right now. You're like, yep, that's what. That's the truth, Ralph. That's how I feel.But God's word's telling us something completely different. God's word's telling us that boundaries are God's design to protect what matters most and keep us aligned with his will.Well, think about that for a second. There's huge tension. There isn't. Isn't there? Because the world says more is always better. We talked about this a couple weeks ago on the show.More and more and more, but God's saying rest, stewardship, and margin. So I want to tell you about my story right now, because as I was preparing for today's show, I thought about, how can I really be impactful to you?Listening right now, you're probably like, oh, this guy's talking about something, but it doesn't affect him. Let me just tell you right now, it's affected me.I remember there were times in my life when I was working 80, 90, 100 hours a week, and I was buying into that culture approach. I thought, working harder. If I keep working hard, it's the only way I'm going to keep this small business alive.I had a wife, I had two young kids, just started my own accounting practice, and, man, that's what I thought. I had to work harder. I had to work longer. Well, guess what? It led to some really bad consequences. Now, it started off simple enough.I'd miss a family dinner here and there, constant stress at home. And then my health just started to take a nosedive. And then some really sinister stuff happened, and it almost was the breaking point.My marriage was strained. My wife and I passed, and we didn't even know each other anymore. Going to church became something I didn't have time for.My faith was slipping, and, man, the exhaustion was just completely mounting. I never forget, I went to the doctor one day, and he said, ralph, your blood pressure is 200 over 100. Something's got to give here.That was my turning point. And it was at that point I started to set boundaries. I started to reduce my hours. I started to schedule that Sabbath.It's a big work, but I started to schedule that rest Period. And I started to prioritize my family because in the end, that's what really mattered. But it took me understanding it.It took me taking that stand of drawing that line in the sand and saying, listen, Ralph, something's got to change here. And it didn't happen overnight. This was a process. This is what they call a work in process for sure. And I can see you right now nodding your head.You're like, ralph, man, I got to do the same thing with, how do I accomplish that? I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes. But when I was able to do this and listen, I'm still doing it to this day.You talk to my wife and kids, they'll be like, yeah, Dad's changed some, but he's still a workaholic. But the result has been amazing. My productivity is actually improved. Yeah, I'm doing more speaking, working less time, but I'm being more effective.My relationships are healing and my business has never been better. My business is actually stabilized. Because here's the thing I want you to hear, and I want you to hear this loud and clear.Sometimes working less with boundaries produces more fruit than working endlessly without them. Talk about countercultural, man, you don't hear that talked about in culture, do you? And I love what Henry Cloud said. He said this.He said, you get what you tolerate. I thought about that as we prepare for the show, and my producer's nodding their head as we're recording today.And I thought about this and I said, man, that is so true. What we tolerate, that's what we get. If we tolerate chaos in our lives, if we tolerate over commitment, if we tolerate unhealthy demands, guess what?Those things are going to continue. They're never going to stop because we tolerate it. Boundaries are not about controlling others. A lot of people don't understand it.Listen, I didn't understand that. I thought to set boundaries was I was going to control somebody else, and, man, I screwed that up.My wife would be the first one to tell you, man, he was a tyrant. All he did was dictate and control. And in my own mind, I was setting boundaries.But what I really needed to do was clarify what I was willing to and what I wasn't willing to accept. I'll give you some examples of that right now. For me, tolerating endless work emails at midnight.Yeah, I had clients that would send me emails at midnight. And I had this belief that, oh, I better respond to that. But what I finally said is, wait a second, I got to Set a boundary here.After 8pm I'm with family. If you were. If you send me an email at 1:00 clock in the morning, guess when you're getting a response. When I get up at 5am Haha. Funny on you, right?But there's so much value in that. Because every time you set a boundary, you're teaching people and you're teaching yourself what is healthy and what is God honoring.You might be thinking to yourself, wait a second. We. You mentioned at the beginning that question said, well, Jesus gave himself, he gave his life.Isn't it being selfish, rough if we're not doing more? Well, just look at Jesus's modeled boundaries. Look at Luke 5:16. We'll get to that in a second.But Jesus himself, the person that we should all emulate, the person that, hey, what do you want to be like? I want to be like Jesus. Right? Jesus withdrew to pray. He didn't meet every demand placed on him.He said no to crowds of people in order to say yes to his Father. That's Jesus. Think about that. Boundaries gave him strength for ministry and clarity for his mission.See, if Jesus the Son of God, and I'm assuming you believe that because you're listening to me right now, if Jesus the Son of God made space for rest and prayer, how much more do we need to do it? Because listen, I'm nowhere near being as powerful as Jesus, and I'm. I'm speaking for myself, but I'm betting you're thinking the same thing.That's the question, isn't it? And that's a tough one to answer honestly, isn't it? Well, let's take a little bit of a historical look. Let's look back at the early church.Let's talk about those early Christians in that Sabbath practice. Give you a little history lesson here because I had to learn this myself. In the culture of Roman productivity, that was a big deal.Idol worship, the Roman culture was all about productivity. We got to work harder. We got to constantly be working. They worship these idols of work and accomplishment. But think back to the early church.Christians buck that system. They chose to rest and they chose to worship weekly. They, they took that Sabbath time. And at the time, Sabbath was countercultural.It set them apart from the world.Listen, I'm going to get a little preachy right now, but we got to set ourselves separate from the world because by doing that, it reminded them that God, not work or wealth, was their provider. And see, when you set boundaries with time and money, you're resisting cultural pressure and you're declaring your trust in God.I want to read that again because that is so important that you hear me on that. When you set boundaries with time and money. We're going to talk about both of those things here.As we get into the scripture today, you're resisting cultural pressure and you're declaring your trust in God. That's where trust needs to be. Well, let's get into some scripture today.Things I want to do in this show is always tie in what I'm saying to scripture. Let's go right to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 1.And it says this, and I bet you've heard this one before, very commonly quoted scripture. There is time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. Yeah, you probably heard that one, right? Absolutely.But what is it really speaking to us as it relates to these boundaries? See, life has God ordained rhythms. And I want you to start thinking in terms of rhythms.Those rhythms are things about work and rest and growth and healing. Well, if we don't set boundaries, we're not able to honor those, see?And when we set boundaries, it helps us honor those rhythms instead of trying and doing everything at once. Think about a band, right? You go to listen to a band, there's a drummer, maybe a guitar player, maybe a singer.Well, if everybody's making all kinds of crazy noises at the same time, you're not getting anywhere. That's not a rhythm. But when they learn how to play together, they learn how to share the stage. They learn how to meld that music together.That's a rhythm. Those are boundaries. So I'm going to encourage you right now with this piece of scripture. Recognize your current season.Because, listen, we're all in different seasons. And accept something. Accept that you can't carry every load in every season. Listen, I'm preaching to me right now, but I'm preaching to you, too.There's a lot of moms out there that think they can carry everything. There's a lot of husbands out there and spouses out there who think they can carry everything. Guess what? You can't carry it all. You're in a season.Except that you can't carry every load. Well, let's move on to our second piece of scripture today. And this one comes from the book of Proverbs, chapter 25, verse 28.A little bit more metaphorical here again, Proverbs 25, 28. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self control.And you're thinking, pow, dude, you Hit me right over the head with a mallet on that one. But I want to get to you some historical context. So ancient cities without walls were vulnerable to attack. That's one of the big things.If you read through the Old Testament, you read through the early church stories, you talk about these walls, the walls of Jericho, all the walls of these things. Even think back to medieval times, the castles. But without walls, you're vulnerable to attack. You don't have any protection. You don't have any peace.Well, guess what? Without personal boundaries, we're vulnerable to burnout. We're vulnerable to financial ruin.And like I learned the hard way, we're vulnerable to fractured relationships. Yeah, I experienced that firsthand. How about you? Are you listening or watching right now? You're like, man, dude, I feel that as well.I'm not protected. What's important. And see, boundaries are those walls. Boundaries guard your heart, boundaries guard your time.And boundaries guard the resources so that you can do just like Christ did. You can flourish. You can reach more people. You can be there. You can be there for the people that matter most in your life.Because when you're not setting those boundaries, when you're choosing to say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. What are you saying no to? Let's get right to our next Bible verse. This one comes from the Book of Mark, chapter 1, verse 35.Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up. Dudes like me like to get up early, right? That's a good thing. But he got up, he left the house, and he went off to a solitary place where he prayed.Think about that picture. Jesus is with his. His friends, is with his disciples. He intentionally decided. Intentional is a big word here.But he intentionally decided to withdraw from them, withdraw the demands of people around. Can you imagine being Jesus? All these people are being brought to you. They want to be healed. They want to hear what you have to say.Because, listen, the people around Jesus knew who he was, and they wanted to have every single minute with him. But what did Jesus do? He withdrew. He knew the demands. He knew there were people that needed him.But he withdrew because he needed to connect with his Father. See, Jesus was the first one that understood that relationship. He needed to connect.And so if you're asking me, Ralph, prove to me that boundaries aren't selfish. Here we go. This shows. This act of Jesus himself shows that boundaries aren't selfish. They're essential.They were essential for staying aligned with God's mission. God had sent Jesus his Only begotten son on a mission here. He gave him work to do. But even Jesus needed solitude and prayer. How much more do we need?Some. I encourage you right now. Build that quiet space. Build it into your schedule and make that your Sabbath rest. Make it holy.Let's look at Matthew, chapter 11, verses 28 and 30. Another one that really is reassuring for me on those days when I'm feeling worn out, when I'm feeling overwhelmed again. Matthew 11:28 to 30.Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. This is Jesus speaking. And Jesus what? Paint the picture here. What is Jesus contrasting? He's contrasting this heavy burden of the world.He knows what's going on. He sees all these people around him. They're weary, they're burdened. He says, here, give it to me. He had the lightness of his way.What do we learn from that? The most powerful person that's ever walked this planet, Jesus Christ, reaffirms something. Rest is not weakness.See, a lot of people think that if I rest, I'm being weak. I'm not hanging in there. I'm not in the hustle. Jesus flipped the tables on that one, didn't he? See, Jesus himself said, rest is not weakness.It's an invitation into his grace. And guess what? The other word we're going to use here, that rhythm. Right? It's all about that rhythm. Finding that workflow. Find out.See, Jesus get up early. He goes out to pray amongst himself so he could have that relationship with God. See, saying no can be. Saying yes to this.Rest and boundaries are one way to accept this invitation. Let's look at the Book of Psalms, chapter 90, verse 12. This one kind of turned a little bit.I added this one into the last minute, but I thought it was really relevant. Here again, Psalms 90:12. Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.Now, you might be saying, okay, Ralph, why did you put this in here? See, here's the thing. Time is limited. We don't have endless capacity. One thing's for sure, you will die. That's a sure thing.Nobody knows how many days you have. But it's limited. And see, boundaries doing those effectively. They're about numbering our days wisely.One of the things I talk about almost every week is wise choices, intentional choices. But by doing that, we're numbering our days wisely. We're choosing what matters most.We are saying to that calendar number, no, I'm going to tell the calendar what I'm going to do the calendar is not going to tell me what I need to do. So every yes that you say and listen, we are all pulled in 900 different directions, but every yes should be measured in the light of eternity.Analogy I can use here is that if you were told you're going to die tomorrow, how would you spend today? Think about that for a second. What would you do today? Would you do stuff that didn't matter for eternity? I know I wouldn't. What would I do?I go spend time with my wife and children, the people that I care about. I wouldn't worry about a job. I wouldn't worry about any of that garbage. I'd be worried about what matters. Someone encourage you right now.Don't waste your limited time on distractions. It's so easy to be distracted by a culture that just has noise coming at us from all directions.The Internet, AI, all those things, they're distractions. How much time are you? I'm picking on you right now. I'm picking on myself, though, too. And we'll talk about this in our.In what I'll call a tech Sabbath here in a few minutes. But how much time are you spending? Distracted?See, because when you make that decision to go scroll on Instagram or go scroll on Facebook or TikTok, you're choosing not to do something else. Is that time you could spend with your partner? Is that time you can spend with your children, with your wife, with your husband?Maybe it's time you can spend mentoring other people. But don't lie to yourself. You're making a decision.And when you don't set that boundary, you're letting time, you're letting your schedule dictate how you live your life. And so now you're saying, ralph, man, you've brought a lot of things to light. But how do I apply this to my life? I've got some ideas here.First thing, and I hope you're hearing this, boundaries are biblical. They're not selfish. First thing I got to see, because we got to turn that cultural belief that boundaries are selfish on their. On their thumb.Because boundaries are biblical. Listen, boundaries align with God's design. They're not selfishness. Even Jesus withdrew from the clouds to pray and see.Boundaries protect your ability to serve from strength. Because, listen, if you don't set boundaries, you're going to be worn out, you're going to be woefully tired, you're going to be empty.See, because here's the thing, and I love this quote, I don't know who said this? But I think this is perfect. You can't pour living water into others if your own well is dry. If your well is dry, guess what?You're never going to be able to to give somebody else that nourishment, that living water that they need. You gotta recharge. That's what Jesus was doing. When Jesus withdrew to pray, when Jesus withdrew to have time with the Father, what was he doing?He was filling his well because he knew he was flesh. That's the thing about, a lot of people don't understand this. Jesus was a human being.He felt the same things we felt and he knew he had to recharge himself. So boundaries are not selfish. They're biblical. Number two thing, and I learned this the hard way.Boundaries protect relationships because without boundaries, love turns into resentment. There were times in my marriage when my wife resented me because I didn't set boundaries. That's what it is. I can't lie to you. That's what it was.It was resentment. I was choosing things above her. My children felt the same way. My children were like, hey, where's dad? How come dad's not home for dinner?They resented that. Why? Because I was making an intentional choice. I had to work, I had to drive this business. My kids are young, they don't get that.Why isn't dad here for dinner? Oh, my friend's dads are there for dinner. That was a choice.The love that I should have had for my wife and children was turned into resentment because of my own failure to submit myself to boundaries. Think about over commitment. So many of us do this. We over commit. What does it do? It drains our joy and it creates bitterness for us.How many times have you been involved in something? I'll give you an example of this.Being a finance guy in a lot of churches, I get pulled in to help it out with the finance committee and then help out with this committee. Next thing you know, I'm on four different committees. Yeah, I feel like I need to give back, right? But what does it do? It drains that joy.And then I go, oh, I got another meeting tonight. Oh, I hate these meetings. I don't want to be in this meeting. I'm supposed to have joy here.I'm supposed to be having joy for the church that's growing. This is the body of Christ. These are the people. These are my people, These are my family. This is my community.And I'm bitter about it because I've over committed myself. And see if I was to live in those healthy limits And I'm going to encourage you to do that right now.Healthy limits keep love sustainable, and they build those relationships and they make them stronger. See, saying yes from guilt is not the same as saying yes from love. Hear me on that. It's one thing to say yes. Oh, I feel guilty. I better do this.It's not the same as saying to your partner, yes, because of love. I'm going to do this because I love you. Third thing, my little finance hat, a little bit setting boundaries is stewardship.See, most people think stewardship's just money. That's what we've been trained to believe. But stewardship covers a whole lot more things.It covers your time, it covers your energy, it covers those relationships. And without guardrails, we spend what we don't have and we invest unwisely. Think about your credit card.If the credit card company called you today and said, guess what? You have an unlimited credit limit, what would most people do? I don't know about you, but I'd be out charging that, right?There's a guardrail, though, right? Because the credit card company is helping us. They know that we shouldn't overextend ourselves. At least we shouldn't, right?There's a case to be argued whether we do or not, but it's helping us do that. Those guardrails are those boundaries. They help us manage God's gifts faithfully. God's given us all gifts.But if we're running in 15 directions all the time, are we able to use them faithfully? Can we multiply them? No, we can't. Number four thing, boundaries follow Jesus. He gave us this direction. Didn't he see? Jesus healed many people.But guess what? He didn't heal everybody. Now, that's a little bit counterculture. Maybe people are like, wait a minute, Ralph. Jesus healed everybody he saw.Okay, fine. Did he see everybody? No, he didn't. Jesus taught thousands of people. But he also withdrew to pray, often to the Father. He was intentional.He set those boundaries. He said no to urgent demands to say yes to eternal priority. See, Jesus. Jesus knew he had a time limit, didn't he?He knew he had a mission, and he set those boundaries. And those boundaries show obedience. And they show focus, not laziness. See, if Jesus was around today, culture would say, oh, that guy's lazy.He's not talking to everybody. He should be filling stadiums. He should be doing this every minute of every day. And Jesus would say, oh, no, I don't think so, pal.I'm going over here and I'm Gonna talk to the Father. Cause Jesus knew himself he need to recharge. See, Jesus set the model number five thing. Saying no protects yeses that matter most.Remember I said that a little while ago? When you say yes to everything, you're saying no to things as well.And when you say no to something, and listen, I'm struggling with this one right now. When you say no, it creates space for better yeses. It's real easy to say yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll join 12 committees at church.But are they all the ones that you should be on? See that no creates space for better. Yes. No to endless overtime. Let's think about a practical thing.Let's say you're working and you've got a job where there is overtime opportunities every day. And you think, oh man, Ralph, I can make the money, I can put aside for my family. But if you say no to that, you're saying yes to family dinner.You're saying yes to that date night with your spouse. You're saying yes to your own body. Who needs that Sabbath rest. Let me step on some toes. Now.When you say no to that busyness, that scroll and that endless death scroll, I call. You're saying yes to spiritual renewal and you're saying yes to God's priorities.And when you say no in faith, and I'm going to encourage you right now, speak in truth, speak in faith. When you say no in faith, it opens up space for God's best. Don't you want God's best? I know I sure do. Let's get back to our comparison with culture.See, because again, culture says a lie. Bold faced lie. Culture says productivity equals worth. And if you're exhausted, man, you're a virtuous person. The tireder you are, the better you are.That's what culture tells us. Culture loves to brag about. Man, I work 80, 90, 100 hours a week. Our culture brags about this busyness.Think of the office worker who, you know, who brags about that 70 hour work week and exhaustion. Because that person, let me tell you right now, having done that, you might be right now like Ralph, I'm working 80 hours a week.What are you talking about? 70 hours a week would be a vacation for me. But that exhaustion becomes this badge of honor that so many people wear. I've got the badge of honor.I work 100 hours a week. That's what culture's telling you to do. But let me tell you a little secret. God doesn't measure us by our output.God doesn't have an eternal time clock. Like, oh, you only put in 40 hours this week, Ralph. You lose. No, it doesn't work that way.God measures us by obedience and he measures us by faithfulness. Faithfulness isn't a matter of time. It's a matter of depth. See, because Scripture says rest is sacred. It says obedience matters more than business.Give you a great example. Look at Chick Fil A. If you're from the United States, you probably know what Chick Fil A is.Abby and I were talking about this before we got started today, and she don't have a Chick Fil A where she's at. So I had to lay this out for her. But Chick Fil A is a U.S. fast food company. They sell people. My son calls it God's chicken.That's kind of what kind of the laugh around here. But here's what Chick Fil A does is different, and it's totally counterculture. Every one of their stores closes every Sunday.You go to a Chick Fil A anywhere in this country, it will not be open on a Sunday. Now, I've learned that the hard way because I'd be on a traveling trip. So I'm like, I could really use a chicken sandwich. It's Sunday.You're not getting one. Because the owner of Chick Fil A, their corporate board has chose rest over hustle. Now, culture says that's foolish.All the rest of the restaurants, Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, they're all Arby's. They're all open seven days a week. Hey, some of them are open 24 hours a day. But yet, think about this.Chick Fil A is one of the most successful restaurant chains in America. They value their people. They value rest. They believe that Sabbath isn't wasted time. It's sacred time.And that sacred time reminds us that God is the provider. See, if you wanted me to tell you the real answer to why Chick Fil A does that.It reminds every one of those people, both the customers and the employees, that God matters. God is the provider. And God said to rest on Sunday. So that's what we're going to do. Another lie that culture tells us.Culture says you can have it all if you just push harder. Man, how many times have you heard that? Go on social media? You'll see it every day, 10 times a day. Social media sells this dream.The perfect business, the luxury lifestyle, the flawless body. I don't know about you, but I don't have the flawless body. But I spend a lot of time on social media. I Should have it by now, right?If I just hustle harder, if I never sleep.But behind the scenes, let me tell you something about this, because I know some of these people, these people that you see as social media influencers. Talk to them one on one, and they'll tell you something completely different. They'll tell you they're anxious. They'll tell you that they're broken.They'll tell you that they're exhausted. They'll tell you that they're empty. And they'll tell you that, man, I in a hustle route, that I'm not getting anywhere. That's the truth.You won't see that on social media. But talk to them. Go do a little study. Go research these folks and find out about burnout. Find out about their mental health issues.But Jesus offers us a better way. What's the scripture say? Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened. Does he say he's going to give you a big prize? No.That's not what he says, is it? He says, I'm going to give you rest. Jesus knows what you need. You need rest. You don't need more stuff. You don't need more busyness.You don't need more hustle. You need rest. I love this verse of the Bible. It's from Psalm 46:10. It says, Be still and know that I am God.Be still, rest, quiet away, and know that I am God. A young mom once told me she felt guilty for resting and I wept. She told me, ralph, the laundry's piling up. The bills aren't getting paid.But when she carved out even 10 minutes of quiet time with God, she said, ralph, something miraculous happened. She said, my peace returned. And she said, once I got past that 10 minutes, and that's what I needed, Ralph, I was able to handle those things, man.That laundry was washed, folded and put away. The bills were paid. I had clarity, I had joy. I want you to hear this right now. Stillness isn't laziness. Fight that cultural belief.Stillness is not laziness. It's declaring something bold to God. God, you are in control. I don't have to run myself ragged.So here are some suggestions I have for you to build and protect those boundaries. Because we've talked about needing those boundaries. We've talked about why those boundaries are important.Here's how you do it first thing, and this is going to be super countercultural. And I'm battling this myself. Block that Sabbath rest. Don't just hope you're going to rest.Schedule it make it an unbreakable meeting mark on your calendar right now on Sundays as family and faith time. And when somebody asks you to do something, turn down that and say, that's a conflict with my rest time. That's a conflict with, with my family time.That's a conflict with my time for God time. Because again, what are you doing? You're making a choice. If I say yes to them, I'm saying no to my family. I'm saying no to God.I'm saying no to recharging those batteries so that I can reach more people. Here's a real simple way to think about it. Think about it as God's appointment with you.If God made an appointment with you, would you miss that appointment? Would you be late for that appointment? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be late for that appointment. I'd be early. I'll be on time.Here's another idea. This is a financial idea. This is what I do for a living. Create a financial boundary. Be intentional with that.Decide ahead of time what you will and won't spend. See again, that's a decision, right? Saying yes to one thing means you're saying no to something else. So think about this before you go to the store.Let's say you're going to the grocery store. Say to yourself, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I am going to stick to this grocery budget.This is what I'm going to spend and that's all I'm going to spend. Maybe you're thinking about a vacation. I'd really like to go on a vacation. I don't really have the money to do it.I could go in debt to go on the vacation. Well, that's a decision, right? So maybe you set a no debt rule for vacation.Yeah, we're going to go for a vacation when we can afford to pay for it in cash. We can afford to pay for it in what we've saved. Because pre decided limits like that keep emotions and impulse out of money decisions.You want tell you my big 30 year view of what causes most people financial problems, emotions and impulses. Not in your head right now, aren't you? It's the emotions. Oh, I got to do this. It's that impulsive thing. Oh, I got to have this.All right now I'm going to step on a lot of toes, myself included. Establish tech boundaries. Like I said, this one might get me in trouble. My wife and I go out to dinner a lot.We look around the restaurant, man, everybody's on their phone. People are sitting at the same table. Drives me crazy.Husband and wife are sitting at the same table and both are on their phones and not talking to each other. What's the point? Set that boundary. No family. No phones at family. Dinner time. We used to do this when my kids were younger.They were like, oh, come on, dad, we want to play our game systems. No, this is sacred time. I'm saying yes to family. I'm saying no to distractions. Like me.Maybe you say, look, I'm not talking about email after 8pm that's what it is. I have one dad that I work with. Listen to this story. He leaves his phone in the kitchen at night.He said, ralph, if I take it in the bedroom with me, I'm scrolling all night long. I'm checking work pings. I'm like, I don't want to miss anything. He says, ralph, I leave it in the kitchen. That's a hard one, though, isn't it?Because we're so connected to that. It's like it's part of us. Honestly, I think, you know, my mother used to say, you know, if your head wasn't attached to your body, you'd lose it.I think we feel like that with our electronic devices, don't we? But see, tech boundaries send a message. I think about this. My wife said this to me one time. Broke my heart when she said this. She said, is what.Is what's in your phone more important than me sitting right across from you? Man, that hurt. But see, when you set that boundary, you're saying to that other person that people matter more than notifications.And like I said, I gotta embrace this one myself. Ask yourself that question, do people matter more than notifications? And start asking the right question. Instead of asking, can I fit this in?So many of us say, oh, let me think about this. Somebody calls you and says, hey, you want to get together this weekend? You're thinking, hmm, I got a lot going on, but could I fit this in?That's the wrong question to ask. Instead, ask this question. Does this glorify God or just keep me busy?See, I think in our lives, so many times we just want to stay busy because it's those times we're not busy. We start thinking about stuff, right? And sometimes that thinking about stuff is tough on some of us because we haven't all had beautiful lives.We start thinking about tough times. We start thinking about hurt. Listen, we've all experienced pain.And when we have that downtime, and I think that's One of the problems with culture right now, we don't want to embrace things that we really need to embrace. You want to get past pain, you want to get past something that's bothering you.The best way to get past it is to confront it, not to just make yourself busy and ignore it. Like I said, saying no to a fourth church committee isn't selfish. It allows you to serve your family faithfully at home.Because sometimes you got to worry about what's going on home first. So here's some more ways to do that. Identify those boundaries that are weak right now. Ask yourself. And listen, this is hard. Ask yourself, is it time?Is it money? Is it relationships where I often overextend myself? Again, this is not easy work.But if you want to get past this, and this is what I had to do, the turning point came for me when I asked myself this question. Is it time? Is it money? Is it relationships where I'm often overextending myself.See, if you're saying yes to every weekend event, maybe your weak spot is time. Maybe you say, look, we're going to do one thing this weekend. I see families right now. I see families running themselves ragged.This one's playing this sport, this one's doing this, this one's in this, this one. And you're running yourself ragged. Pick one thing, focus on that, and then have some downtime and use prayer with this.Maybe you need to set one new boundary. Find that area of weakness in your life. Maybe for you it's that work email.Decide no work emails after 8pm or maybe here's one challenge you, maybe a tithe first before spending on extras. One more thing I'm going to encourage you to do. Find some accountability because it's going to help it stick.And then commit to a weekly margin check at the end of each week. Ask yourself this question. Listen, this is retrospective. But if you want to grow, you got to do this.Ask yourself, did I honor my God given time limits? Look at your calendar. Did you protect that Sabbath? Look at your bank account. Did you spend inside of your boundary? Or did you overextend yourself?And listen, don't beat yourself up. Adjust where it's needed. It's not about guilt. It's not about perfection. You're not going to be perfected. It's about growth. Friend.Boundaries can restore peace in your time. They can restore peace in your money, and they can restore peace in your relationship. But I'm going to tell you about one more boundary.The greatest boundary is the one between us And God because of sin. And let me just tell you right now, that's one that no calendar can fix. No financial plan is going to solve this. No margin check can remove that gap.But there is good news here. Jesus already tore down that wall at the cross. See, true rest, true life begins when you say yes to Christ.Remember I talked about a little while ago, saying no to something, saying yes to something else. If you've never taken that step to say yes to Christ, I want to invite you to do it right now. We're going to pray here in a second.Something called a prayer of salvation. Maybe you feel like you're being pulled today, like, you know what, Ralph, you're right.I've made so many choices in my life which weren't that choice for Christ. I'm going to encourage you to pray with me right now. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I need your grace.I believe you died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again to give me new life. So today I make a decision. I turn from my old ways and I place my trust in you. And right now I invite you into my heart as my Savior.And I choose to follow you as my Lord. And I just want to thank you right now, Christ, for forgiving me, for saving me and giving me eternal life. And right now I make a choice.From this day forward, I am yours and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Let me just tell you right now, if you prayed that prayer today or maybe you're even just thinking about praying that prayer.I want to encourage you. Welcome to God's family. I would love to celebrate with you. If you're interested in telling me about your decision, you can go right to my website.It's truth unveiled with Ralph.com decision. Let me know about that decision. Because this journey isn't meant to be walked alone. I'd love to help you. I'd love to be. I'd love to be.I'd be honored to help you walk. Walk with you in this. Help you find some people around you, help you find a good church.And if today's message has encouraged you, I want you to know something. This show only exists because of God's grace, but also because of prayers and support of listeners just like you.Every time you pray for this ministry. And I really want you to pray for this ministry because we're being battled. The devil wants us not to be successful. So pray for this mini.Every time you share an episode, every time you give even a small amount to this. You're helping us reach more people with God's truth.And I want to encourage you right now, if you want to stand with me in this mission, best way you can do that is go to this website, Truth Unveil with Ralph.com support. Just go right there right now if you can make a support. If you want to pray for me, that's fine.If you want to support the show, go to truth unveiled with Ralph.com support. Because with your prayers, with your support, I know something. We can break down these barriers together. We can bring hope together.We can shine God's word into more lives. We can battle that culture which is lying to people. And I just want to thank you for being part of that mission.Because the truth is, I couldn't do this without you. Well, how about we pray together as we close today? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together.We're so grateful that you give us this time to just talk about boundaries, Lord. And thank you for reminding us that your boundaries are blessings to us, not barriers.Help us to walk in wisdom, protecting our time, protecting our money, and protecting our relationships in a way that honors you. So, Lord, I pray for every listener today. For the weary, give them rest, Lord, for the burden, give them peace.For those who just prayed to receive you, I ask that you surround them with your presence and fill them with new life. Set them on fire for you, Lord and Father, thank you for those who pray for and support this ministry. Multiply their faith, Lord.Multiply their impact. And let every gift given be used to bring glory to your name. And we commit this week into your hands, Lord, help us to say yes to what matters most.But also, Lord, help us to say no to what distracts us. We love you, Lord, and we trust you. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Listen, Rest and wise limits bring life. I'm gonna encourage you right now.Say yes to what truly matters. Thank you for listening to me. Go out there now and live intentionally this week. God bless you and I hope to see you again next week.