Don’t Put Anyone in a Box

How many times have we judged someone because they are not like us? We look at their clothes, their jobs, their families, and how they act. When we are doing that, how do we see ourselves? I don’t know if you have ever seen one of those crazy mirrors at a circus that distort the image of the person looking, to make them look fatter or skinnier or some other image. I think we do that spiritually. We can look at ourselves, a sinner in need of God’s redemption, and somehow see someone who is almost perfect. We would never be so presumptuous as to think we were perfect. Have you thought about what God sees when He looks at us? If someone had a right to point out all our faults and weaknesses, it would surely be God... but He doesn’t. Why? Because He is less interested in identifying who you were and more interested in giving you the opportunity of being new and improved. As we talk about putting someone in a box, aren’t we guilty of doing that to God? Many of the Jews did that with who they thought their Messiah would be and so they didn’t recognize Jesus. They crucified Jesus because He didn’t fit in their box. There were many times in the Old Testament that the people had a very small box for God’s ability to protect them, or at least that is what their actions showed. King Solomon understood that God cannot be contained. We read in 2 Chronicles 2, “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?” When we go to church to worship God, He is not contained in that building. The building is actually more there for us to have a place to corporately worship Him. Worship is not about seeking what God can do for us but rather being equipped to go out and do God’s work. We have our work box, our home box, our church box, and so on. God cannot be contained. We need to go back and look at what box God is in. Any limiting walls we erect around God are foolish and unspiritual. O Holy Spirit, Convict our heart of the areas that we limit You in. I don’t want anything to stand between You and me. Amen