(Image: "Outside the Box" (c) by James C. Christensen)Boxes have been on my mind for some time now. God and boxes. Christianity and boxes. My life and boxes. Boxes regarding my mind and the way I perceive things.
I'm discoving that everyone likes boxes whether they realize it or not--especially we Westerners. We like logic, we like things to be neat and tidy and for everything to make sense; we like to be able to look at things from all angles, examine things, and when we are finished with our assessment we put whatever it is we were looking at back into it's neat little box. We like to have things figured out. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with this in most cases (in fact--no pun intended--logic is a very, very GOOD and godly thing!), but sometimes our obsession with boxes hinders our pursuit of truth rather than helps it.
I think boxes are often a subconscious thing. We think certain ways because we were raised a certain way or because we never really took the time to examine our beliefs and just shoved them into the nearest box we could find. "Who cares how well they fit," we say, "At least they are in a box. I'll look at them later." Tsk, tsk, tsk! If something is in a box, we should know exactly what it is, what it's there for, and how it all works together. The thing should fit its box well. If it doesn't, we might need to look for a different sized box or perhaps one of a different shape. Or perhaps we need to sort through the contents again in case there is something there that doesn't belong in that particular box. This process is called thinking, and all of us should be doing it.
However, sometimes there is a problem with the box system: we like to tightly control it. Sometimes we shove things into boxes that were never meant to fit. Sometimes we assign boxes to things that were never meant to have one. Sometimes when we can't find a "correct" box for something, we make one up. Bring on the glue and duct tape!
(Hopefully all this rambling with make sense in a minute.)
I have spent many hours and many late nights in deep conversation with a good friend of mine. ("Deep" meaning non-cotton-candy topics like government, politics, guns, God, discipleship, the church then and now, our generation, the Holy Spirit, etc. Good stuff!) We agree on practically everything, which is nice. But we are both quite aware of how many people disagree on hard topics like these--especially within the church itself. In fact, it's one of the most perplexing things I know of.
How can people who claim to be following the same God see things so differently? (Even while looking at the same Scriptures, I might add.) I see this way, you see that way. So the contents of our respective boxes that we've labeled "Christianity" or "God" must be different. Wow, you're box is rather empty. Well, yours is stuffed to overflowing, and that's not right! Am I missing pieces or are you? Wait--what's THAT thing doing in there? No, I like this piece; it must stay in this box. Why is your box brown while mine is white? If it's the same thing, it should be the same color!
Or in other, more common terms: God is this way, not that way. Well, I was taught growing up that God works like this, not like that. God doesn't like it when you wear that; THIS is godly attire. This is the kind of music we're going to have in Heaven. Don't listen to that other stuff. Abstain, abstain, abstain! God wants us to live this way, not that way. God couldn't possibly like that you're hanging out with THOSE people.
These are all things in each of our "God and Christianity" box. Our "God" box directly and necessarily affects all the other boxes in our lives. All the "do or don't" issues we ALL at some point have to address say more about our concept and understanding of God than about ourselves or the world in which we live.
I guess the ultimate question I'm asking myself is, where do I get my boxes? Where do my preconceptions of God come from? Do I run Him through a filter I've created? Do I take things about Him that don't fit our my own "God" box and try to change it to make it fit, or throw it out (!) all together. If so, that's dangerous, dangerous, dangerous! Because then I move into the realm of self-deceit.
Do we, as professing Christians, really know God for Who He is as revealed in His Word, or do we somehow just see Him as who we want Him to be? What happens when God shows Himself to be different than we wanted or expected?
The bottom line is, I think we in our natural selves tend to try to put God in the box of our own understanding, preconceptions and assumptions. If something in Scripture is hard for us to wrap our minds around we either morph that verse, that phrase, that principle into something we can more easily understand and into something that fits our established worldview or theology or we find a way to slide around it, discredit it, or...anything else we can do to make it not say what it does.
But in the end, we only cheat ourselves.
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I sit in a room of boxes, boxes stacked and piled all around me. And in my arms I hold the ultimate box: the God Box, which also dictates the contents of all the other boxes in the room. I like the God Box; I'm pretty comfortable with it and know all of its contents perfectly. I know how they work and how they fit together, what color they are and what they are made of.
But God stands before me with another box, one that I don't recognize. I didn't bring it in here and I'm not sure I want it in here; it might mess up my system! But He just smiles and holds it out to me and says, "Hey daughter, take a look at this. I want to show you the contents and how it all works." But I want my own box. I don't like His box...I'm not sure what's in there. What if I don't like what I find? My box is safe; I put the contents in there myself. And it all fits together nicely, thank you. Well, mostly...
But He insists, "Dearie, you have quite a complicated mess in that box of yours. I see pieces missing or out of order. And you have some baggage in there you really don't need and that I never gave to you. Why don't we get rid of your box and use Mine?"Tentatively, I reach out and take the box. I'm surprised because it is very light, so much lighter than mine! We both plop down on the floor and open it together.
Peering inside His box, I am suddenly speechless. Whatever was inside my old box looked like a jumbled, ugly mess compared with this work of art. It's fascinating, it's beautiful, it's HIM. I suddenly feel like a fool. I don't even want to look at my own box anymore; I see now that its contents didn't even remotely resemble the Father sitting beside me.
We go over it, piece by piece. I am delighted, humbled, amazed, dazzled. When we finish, He suddenly hands me another box. "Now how about this one?" He says, smiling, "I think you're ready for an upgrade!"
The contents of the new box are similar to the first, but better, deeper, more elaborate, more beautiful. "And when we're done with this one, I'll give you another!" He says. "Each box will show you a little more than the one before."
"How many are there?" I ask.
"I am endless," He replies.
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The bottom line of this story and this entire post is: I don't want my box system anymore. I want His. A passage that has somehow developed into my personal theme for this point in my life is Romans 12. Paul urges his readers to present themselves to God as living sacrifices as an act of worship. And, he writes, instead of being just like the world, you must "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" which enables you to know the will (read: mind, heart, character, purpose, intention) of God. How is our mind renewed? By being washed in the Word, the Truth, through the power of the Holy Spirt. Incredible stuff! It's powerful, life-changing, HEART-changing. This is why the basic spiritual disciplines are so important; they are step one on an amazing adventure into the heart and mind of Almighty God, for those who are humble enough to leave behind their own assumptions of Who God is and let Him speak for Himself.
This is a huge topic that can be taken in so many different directions, but I've tried to be brief and summarize the thoughts that have been rolling around between my ears for some time. I'm not the best at turning my thoughts into words, so I hope you won't judge me too quickly and give me a few posts to flesh out these concepts a little more thoroughly.
But in the meantime, take a deep breath and try something scary: throw away your homemade box. Let God give you His. See what you discover of Him.
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