Boxes Boxes Everywhere

People want to divide this life up into categories. We love boxes. This is my christian box. This is my job box. This is my family box. This is my sports box, friends box, health and fitness box etc.. It’s how, I think, we can sit in church on Sunday and sing praise to God, weep about a good sermon, and then not think another thing about God until the next Sunday rolls around. It’s how we can have a morning devotion and read in James about a natural man looking at his face in the mirror who forgets what was there when he looks away and we actually become that very man throughout the day.

We put things in boxes because we have so much we want to accomplish. So much life that is just there for the taking but how do we fit it all in? There are some boxes that we love..sports, friends, entertainment...and some we know we need to have to make life a little more meaningful...family, job, Christianity. So we try to juggle each one and give it its proper amount of care and attention.

The ability to make and put things in a box has a unique result. Our conscience is freed. The voice inside that says, “I’ve created you for something more” is quieted by weekly church attendance, and morning devotions. The guilt that might come from spending too much time at the gym or watching endless hours of TV or movies is removed by knowing that there is time planned for the family later or doing some sort of ministry next Thursday night. We’ve become skilled at compartmentalizing our lives to the point that once we leave that room, not another thought is thought about it until we come back to it. We think that this is the definition of a healthy life.

When we open the word and read about the history of humanity, we see that this is not a new thing. This dividing things up into categories so that we might do the right things as well as the things we please, has been around since the beginning. God so very often spoke to His chosen people about speaking one thing with their lips and then immediately forgetting and doing the opposite. We see the children of Israel standing at the mountain of God and saying they will do all that He commands and then turning right around and making a golden calf. “Yes we will follow this God that brought us out of Egypt. But let’s continue to do what we've always done..make a god that we can see and bow down to.” Boxes.

Isaiah talks about people who fast and pray and cry out to God but still harm their workers and abuse the weak (Is. 58:3-4) Boxes.

Fast forward all the way to Jesus’ time and you have Jesus calling out the religious leaders of the day for the same problem. “You focus so much on the box of being Abraham's seed, Moses’ descendants... Of keeping all the laws right down to tithing mint and dill and you forget the poor..You lay heavy burdens on the people and keep them from seeing the truth. You diligently look to the scriptures for truth and knowledge and yet you do not do what it says”

Religion had become a box. The law had become a box. And that is where it stopped. No heart change. No love for God. Just compartments that made them think they were ok before God. Jesus radically shook their world when He said..I don't care about the outward things..You all honor me with your lips but your hearts are wicked.” When asked the greatest commandment, He replied, ”Love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.” (Matt. 22:37)

All. That's a messy word, all. All means that it spills over into the other boxes..All means that this thing, following Christ, touches other compartments and now the other things are being exposed. Following Christ affects how I treat my family, how I deal with my job, how I plan my weeks. He wants all of my time? Then how do I tell my heart it's ok to spend all day Saturday watching the games? He says His word and truth are to apply to everything in my life? Now I feel guilty about that movie or that conversation with friends. I don’t want a Christianity that escapes the box. I want a check on the board so I can be and do the other things that bring me joy.

This is the fork in the road, the truth that many in the church, many professing believers pull back the reins and stop. This is the point that they no longer want to look at the truths of actually putting sin away and having Christ touch all the boxes. This is where they are unwilling to surround themselves with other believers who speak out against sin and talk constantly about God. This is the point where they would rather find a church where there are others who are ok with the Christian box. It becomes obvious that this is the case when you can fellowship on Sunday morning and the talk is about Jesus and how great He is and then spend Sunday evening at a BBQ catching each other up on the latest Game of Thrones episode or laughing at foul jokes or having no problem with flirting with someone else's husband or wife. It’s ok...we already did the church/Jesus box this morning so tonight we all get a pass. Nobody feels guilty. Nobody feels evil. Hey, the pastor’s even here..He’s showing everyone how cool Christianity can be.

Boxes..they are what dull the senses and ease the conscience and keep the mind blinded to what Christ said true Christianity looks like. They are the deadly portioning out of our lives that will, if not dealt with, keep a person blind to the fact that Christ came so that they might no longer live as the world lives...the truth that He came so that every part of their lives would be lived for and through Him. Whether we eat or drink we are to do ALL to the glory of God. There isn’t room for any other love, any other devotion.

We all have boxes...we all have compartments. It’s how you look at them that matters...(and you know deep in your heart how you look at them) If you look at Christianity as a box that gives you permission to sin in other places, if you see it as a compartment that you can close and come back to without ever thinking of it, then you are in a dangerous place. You may be what Jesus called a white washed tomb..look good on the outside but the inside, nothing but dead men’s bones.

You may have started out the race running well, Christ was everything, but life has just gotten busy and you’ve forgotten. Then repent. Turn away from your own rule and acknowledge and follow Christ..in everything. Walk away from those who give you permission to keep Christ in a box. This ability to ease our conscience is not a new thing, this is the heart of man that more than anything wants to rule his own life. We must daily be diligent to fight the temptation to put God in a box. He is the Lord of the universe and demands the whole man or none...no portioning out will be accepted. We must choose this day and every day whom we will serve.