THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

I think we all grow up in a box. We see the world and life, and have our understandings based on the box that we were placed. Such is life. We are subjective in our thinking. By that I mean we see all things based on our view point and perspective. In a sense we all have been programed a certain way.

There are so many opinions about so many things. All of this is because we all as individuals have been placed in a different box. We often cannot understand why some people feel the way they feel about many things. It can be very perplexing.

I truly believe if I had been born in Asia or Africa, I would be so very different. I would be of a different race and have a different name. All my upbringing and experiences would be so different. However, I had no choice about my location of birth and who would be my parents. My family and culture, education and religious heritage were all given unto me. Such shaped me to be what I am and helped frame my outlook on all of life. However, God gave me a brain. He expects me and all humans to think outside the box and see Him for who He really is and embrace Him. The greatest mission for every human on earth, is to find God, to know Him, and live for Him.

However, in the midst of so many roads of life, there is a path that one has trodden down for us. His name is Jesus Christ. He has gone through the wilderness of life and made a path for us to follow that will lead to life eternal. It is not a path that determines all opinions of life. We all can travel this path that Jesus has made with our opinions, traditions, culture, races, and backgrounds. So long as we know that is what they are and never seek to make laws out of them. This path that Jesus has made for us, is a path of life that welcomes all the world.

However, there are certain OBJECTIVE truths that we must discover on this path. There is a God. The one true and living God of the universe who made all things. There is the Bible. The only written revelation of God to mankind that is approved by Him. There is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and only hope of the world. There is sin. There is right and there is wrong. There is good and there is evil. Jesus paid the price for that sin and made a way for us to be delivered. The Bible tells of the great plan of redemption. It provides the road map to get us safely from this life to heaven. The Bible tells of the great family of God, the church. The Bible tells of this glorious family and how it is to function. The basic core concepts are laid out. This glorious gospel of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus from the dead is spelled out so clearly. The terms of entrance into this glorious saved state are also declared with simplicity. How God desires to be worshiped and the wondrous Christian life that we are to live is all revealed to us. As we walk this path that Jesus has prepared for us, all these things necessary for our salvation and deliverance will be revealed. However, we must find our way out of the fog and maze of life filled with culture, false perceptions, the box we are in, and seek the truth that God wishes for us to have.

This glorious gospel of redemption is firm and fixed to the level necessary to redeem us. It is flexible and variable enough to move into every nation of earth and in every century of time, until the end of the world. It has the capacity to touch every human life regardless of their culture and background, education and wealth or poverty. It can move among the nations to impact everyone for good. We get into trouble when we try to create the "American Church" and bind that on the world. Or, the southern, 21st century culture of America and bind that on all the church in America or the world. We must always strive to know the difference between what is a tradition or opinion and what is truly the faith of our God that He wishes for us to embrace. We must know the difference between what is a cultural item unique to our time, that will fade away with changing times, and what is the truly core values that are timeless. The core values of the gospel are the same today that they were in the first century. The cultures have changed, the traditions have changed, the opinions have changed, the methods have changed, but the core values and truths of the gospel that save people have remained fixed for all time. Those fixed truths are what we must duplicate in each and every century of time until the end.

We must all seek to move through the fog of life and see the bright sunshine of Almighty God and His glorious truth and stand fast upon the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ! To God be praised!