Box

How many times have I come out of church thinking...that lesson was just what I needed...the perfect application for the current situation. And I would chew on it a while and really try to apply it to my thinking...my behavior, my thoughts etc. But yesterday, Freddy, one of our associate pastors spun that ideology into a different direction. He made a case that too many times we try to put God in our own pre-constructed box. We tell him what we are dealing with and then ask him to come down and help us fix it. And we center our thoughts our actions, our attitudes etc. around our own infrastructure and do not consider that it is not our infrastructure that matters at all...it is God's.

That is so true! Even when I am seeking God's will and God's way...I am so many times doing so according to my needs and my desires, without consultation or initiative to reach towards His "immovable" standard. I consistently try to bring Jesus down to my level instead of seeking to aspire high to His. Instead of asking God to apply His word to our lives we are called to apply our lives to His word. We are to apply ourselves to meet His criteria, stretch ourselves to comply with His teaching.

Instead of looking to God and trying to shrink HIM...we are called to seek God and pursue his high standard for our lives....wanting to know more of Him because he already knows all of us. God sent his son that he could initiate a true and lasting and loving relationship with all those who believe in the name of His son. We serve a Big God with Big Plans to meet His Big Purposes....when we try to box him into to our own little world he is too big to FIT in the box that we have created. God's character is what he is continually communicating to us....the very nature of who he is...but we so often overlook his character because we all about neatly packing our own boxes....with quick fixes...and heartfelt desires, and self indulged standards.

If we want to know how big God is we just need reflect on creation....from the beginning....with a mere breath he created, with a mere word he embellished the earth with light and life. This is the same God that is communicating with us today...He doesn't belong in a box...and neither do we....for we are his creation....with all of our quirks and kinks and strengths and values...to be used for His glory. Until we ask God to free us of the external driven natures that the world imposes....we remain stuck in a boxed up state of frustration, discontent and self centered attempts to be at peace...The only way to have peace...a true peace is to allow God his rightful place in our lives and submit to his lead.

The word of God tells us that:

1) God has the POWER to lead...he leads us from sins...he leads us to His good works

2) God has the POWER to change us...he aims at our heart..

3) God has the POWER to judge us....we have perverted that idea into thinking we are the judge...

As long as we allow God the freedom to use His power to lead, his power to change us and his power to judge our actions and motives and attitudes...he will work towards releasing the walls of the boxes that we have built up around us and help us to live within His unmovable standards instead of being confined to our earthly ways that stunt our growth.

We have to embrace God for who he is if we want to be who he wants us to be. It is most definitely a stretch for us to reach and try to apply our lives to Christ....and much easier to try to pull Him down into our limited sphere....but if we are to grow according to God's purposes...we have to be willing to reach...and to reach High...and stretch beyond what we think we are capable of doing and allow God to grab our hand of submission and raise our standards to coincide with His.
There is a popular Christian song .."Heart of Worship"...The chorus is as follows:

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus"

It is all about Jesus....but oh so many times I make it about ME!
Psalm 18:16
He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

Dear Lord, Help me to look up and reach high and not be so saturated in my own little world that I sidestep YOU the real force and power that can free me from my distress....however small or grand it may be.
Help me to tear off and tear down the binds that keep my earthly "box" in place and help me to reach for you seeking freedom from my own self derived boxed boundaries....and trust you in all situations. Amen


Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!