Acts 2: 44 - 47 NKJV
There is a common phrase out there these days to describe those who use their heads for something more than just impulse decisions. For those that tend to see a situation from all possible angles, we tend to think of them as thinking outside of the box. So I've often wondered, what is that box? What's in it? How did it get here? I know that some might see these as being facetious questions, but those of us who are prone to not thinking outside of that box may want to know how this all works. I have a dear friend who, before he makes a decision, thinks over each possibility of what it is he is doing. This is one of the most important things I've learned from him. For far few of us rarely take the time to stop and smell the roses of our own decisions. I believe that this...is the box. That place where we instantly go to where we will feel always feel comfortable. Indeed, if somethings working for us then why change it? We might call this tradition, common practice or ceremonial but any way you look at it...it's the box. So, how in the world could thinking out of the box ever relate to our own world of christianity? Simple, far too many times we will simply accept those things around us as being "normal." Therefore, we follow without questioning our own decisions or actions. The box. How many times have we sat in a sunday service only to see everything which surrounds us as the christianity which God desires His children to realize and celebrate? Then again, why are we so certain that it is our Lords ultimate desire that we should follow what we are being told in church? What if there is more to God than just hearing a weekly pulpit pounder pep talk and singing a few songs? Careful there, if we keep thinking like that we ourselves may just find ourselves thinking out of the box.
20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17: 20 - 24 NKJV
I'll admit that for the longest time I saw God as tied to that church building I walked into each and every sunday. This was Gods house. We were His people and this was where we would find Him. All of Gods people in one convenient box. The problem with accepting this and not thinking outside of that box is that we simply accept that our Lord is limited to a building. However, it is the physician Luke who tells us otherwise in Acts 7. It is Luke who tells us that God does not dwell "in temples made with hands." Wait, so God does not dwell in His own house? Then again, why do we limit God to our own understanding? We know that He created all that we see {Acts 17:24}. What is it that we can ever make for God who created everything? This might make more than a few minds swirl and churn with thinking, but that's what they were created for anyway right? To say that all we are to do is accept that which we are told is, as the great vulcan once said, highly illogical. I would suggest that it is not God who keeps us in this box of our own making. On the contrary, it is God Himself who desires us to see Him as He really is. Not as a building, pastor or religion, but as our Father who lives through us {Galations 2:20}. Have you ever wondered what our Lords desire is for you? Well, Jesus will show you. As He prayed in the garden that night, Jesus layed out perfectly just what the Father desires for His children. That we would be one with the Father as He and the Father were also one {John 17:22}. I would venture to say that it is also His desire that more of His children would come out of their own box.
24“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell intemples made with hands. 25“Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27“so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us"
Acts 17: 24 - 27 NKJV
~Scott~
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