Beyond the Box

I think it's time we stop putting God in a box, you know? 

I started out this morning reading the creation story, Genesis 1, where God divided the waters and brought forth the land, created light and darkness, sun and moon and stars, and sprinkled the land with plants, the seas with fish, the air with birds. Animals appeared, and then people. 

And then we close the pages of our Bibles and say, "Well, that was neat. On to other things now."

Neat?!!!

When did we compress the amazing power, majesty, and miracle of creation into a children's bedtime Bible story?

Further, when did we start looking at the entire revelatory story of sin-to-redemption through a pinhole lens? It's the story of the miraculous power of Christ on the cross, where He broke death into a million pieces and sent Satan's plans spinning into a tailspin of confusion. It's the story of all of heaven sitting on the edges of their seats, their hearts breaking when the Father turns His face away from His son's tortured cry: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?! My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me? It's the story of the veil of the Holy of holies ripping in two from top to bottom, the shaking of the earth, the Roman centurion who attends the crucifixion to stare up at the Lamb who was slain saying, "Surely, this man was the Son of God!" And then, it's the story of the earthquake at the tomb, the blinding light, the guards who "fell down like dead men" as Jesus emerged victorious from death, appearing to His disciples and to many others, and then rising into the heavens, promising to one day return for His church, His bride.

When did all of this turn into a bedtime caricature for children, to be shrugged out of when they "outgrew" it?

How easy it is to reduce the great story into a pat on the head! How easy it is to one day conquer the universe with a faith that can move mountains, and the next day, declare it "imagination!" How easy it is to take the amazing away from the grace.

Father, help us to believe!

Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song years ago that still plays in my head on a near-constant basis. Take a couple of minutes to listen to it, and then remind yourself: This day, we serve an awesome God! This day, His compassions never fail. This day, His peace He leaves with us. This day, whether we see the green growth of revival or black destruction of division, He carries us through it all.

Great is His faithfulness. Not half-hearted is His faithfulness. Not circumstantial is His faithfulness. Not wimpy is His faithfulness.

This day, let the awe, grandeur, awesomeness, holiness, and all-encompassing power of God live in our hearts! The verses I posted in my blog yesterday demonstrate this so well. Peter writes a whole list of stair-steps toward building faith in a powerful God, and at the end, he says: "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:8). 

Why am I going on... and on... and on about this? Because, as Jesus promised in reference to his death and burial: "A time is coming and has come when you will be scattered each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me" (John 16:32).

Has anyone ever doubted the Lord's story? *Raises hand.* Has anyone wondered, just for a second, if this was all made up? *Raises hand.* Has anyone had a horrible, sinking sensation that if this truly was all made up, suddenly, the center of our focus would shift, and our purpose that we were so specifically put here for would fade into nothing as swiftly as a dry-eraser over a whiteboard? *Raises hand.*

Jesus says: "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble (I'm not promising Easy Street, y'all!). But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Jesus has the final victory, the last word. He is not contained in the box we so often try to put Him in. He is outside the box and all around the box and through the box. He obliterates the box! 

When we travel through the plenty and the want, the richness and the devastation, the good and the evil, remember that Jesus carries us through it. Nothing, nothing, is impossible for Him. Take this conversation between a nameless man in the Scriptures and Jesus today. The man brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and said: "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." 

Jesus said, "'If you can?' Everything is possible for him who believes."

Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Help us see beyond the box today, Lord!