Out of the Box Mentality

Once upon a time there was a young man who lived a good life.  He went to church on Sunday mornings, volunteered at a local soup kitchen, read his Bible occasionally, and prayed when he needed something.  He considered himself “religious” and felt like he was in good standing with God.  He would go through this routine and believed that everything would ultimately work out.  However, this young man had a secret.  Despite his “connection” to God during the weekend he would start every week the same way.  He would have a conversation with God early Monday morning that went something like this:  “God thank you for taking care of me this weekend and while I want to honor you, I know there are some things at my work that you wouldn’t be proud of.  I know that some of my friends wouldn’t appreciate or understand it if I talked about you.  So as is the case with every week I want to put you in this box and leave you on the shelf here at home while I go about my business this week.  Once Saturday morning hits again, I will get you out and we have another conversation.  Have a good week.”

While this fictitious story may seem a little far-fetched, how many of us do this with God weekly or even daily?  We tend to make God so small, and we squeeze and push Him into this little box that we may or may not pay attention to, which allows us to live how we want.  But God knows that even if this is our tendency, this is not what it looks like to have a real relationship.

God wants to be the center of every decision, the One you go to for everything. And God wants to make sure you don’t make Him just one part of your life.  God outlined this in the first two commandments that he gave to Moses over 3,500 years ago.  The first commandment states, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) and the second says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below”  (Exodus 20:4)  Behind these first two commandments, we don’t discover a God who is insecure or wants attention for attention’s sake, but a God who understands that our lives work better when He’s in the center, and He remains God-not compact, compartmentalized, and small.  And because He loves us, He wants what is best for us.

Today, I would like to leave you with a question to consider about your relationship with God and to discuss with your students.  “Why is it easier to want God involved in certain areas of your life over others?”  As you wrestle with this question I challenge you to think about if you are putting God in a box and what steps could you take to move God more towards the center of your life if He’s not there already.  Our story with God started over 3,500 years ago when Moses had a conversation with God on the side of a mountain, in which God asked Moses one simple question, “Will you trust Me?”  We are given that same opportunity today as we remember “the most important decision we make is what we place at the center of our lives.”