L. O. E. (Limit of Exploitation)

A LOE (Limit of Exploitation) is an essential component in the field of battle. It will ensure that the commanders at Brigade HQ can know where all their troops are at any one time and call upon other units to assist when necessary. For those on the ground, it is important to know the scope of your own operations, in order to avoid a blue on blue incident and it also guards against the over zealous local commander who might take advantage, exploiting their success, pushing too far ahead and perhaps isolate themselves. Each LOE feeds in to the overall bigger command picture.

Humans need boundaries and limits placed upon us as we have a tendency to stray off track easily. It has been proven, for example, that school children feel much safer in a playground with a fence around. In an open field, however, they will naturally cluster in small groups as a natural defence mechanism for a sense of security. We all know how much more difficult it is to keep a handle on unruly children that have no boundaries. Us humans don’t handle freedom very well, and yet we all desperately crave it. The Bible likens us to sheep:

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”

Isaiah 53:6

From the very beginning, we have craved our own way. As a result, God gave it to us, despite the fact that it was not good for us. This is the consequence of us being made with free will (without free will, we wouldn’t be able choose to do what’s wrong or right).

But, even though we have strayed, done our own thing and pleased ourselves, God has made a way for us to get right with Him again. The very thing which keeps us from God, is the wrong that we do against Him – the Bible calls this ‘sin’. The Good news is that this ‘sin’ was taken away by what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, whereby he took the punishment we deserved for it upon Himself, so that we wouldn’t have to. It’s like getting a get-out-of-jail-free card (although it cost Jesus a visit to the prison of death). By giving up our own way and trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we get a free pass on our sin.

“He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.“

Psalm 103:10-12

The most amazing thing about all of this is that there is no LOE to His forgiveness! There is no sin that He won’t forgive, no depths to which you can sink where he can’t pull you out and no distance you can stray that He can’t reach you. And to top it all off, the sin is removed from you as if you had never done it in the first place – it simply cannot be counted against you in God’s eyes any more – you are legally free. The sin is removed, as far as the east is from the west – try to imagine how far that is…

“Surrender your will to Jesus and He will help you to deal with all the rubbish in your life and also take away for good, the sin which made it that way in the first place”