To be honest, I had this short paper prepared to just drop and move on to Christian site that needs my attention. Then the Lord showed me something—are we sometimes just a little too fast to put God in a box? (I do not want to lose focus here, but at the end of the page I have a real-time funny to tell you about.) Does it not seem that we manage our lives in micro-seconds sometimes? So much so that when we stop, we hardly have time to catch our breath with wonder about the new stuff tomorrow.
Point of fact—we have to schedule in, if need be, time to just do something, anything that pleases us, or takes us away from it all. No cell phone, No instant messaging. No scheduling, no organizing, or worrying about the family. I have always suggested hobbies, but where has the hobby in us gone? I know I was going to give a devotion on Ephesians Chapter three, and that would have been great, but this is what I was led to deliver so it has a home maybe with more than one reader. It’s kind of like The Bible; if you are a believer, you know that the Word of God = The Bible, and it is like nutrition to our Spirit, just like how we will eventually pass on without water.
Just like that, we must not walk away from the Living Truth because it is the nutrient to the soul. It allows us to grow spiritually. If we do stray, we all have witnessed people who have turned to other agendas, eventually getting lost in a sea of “the World.” Now maybe it was all about “the Carrier.” Maybe “the Relationship.” Maybe “the Marriage.” You see, it does not matter what came after “The …, ” it was about we put it before God. Did not this man and woman in the Garden of Eden do the same thing? They took it a step further though and were cast out. I have a feeling we need be better ministers of our time. Make “me” time happen, so we are nicer all around with everybody. Superwoman and Superman were in comic books.
Here is the Jesus in The Box Story I promised: One of our Ministers bought in this “Jesus Figure.” When you pulled the string, it would say verses. One day I came in from work and saw this packaged Jesus. I turned to My Pastor and said, “Take Jesus out of the box.” Every time I walked in the back, I would say, “Listen, take Jesus out of the box.” One of the guys asked why I wanted him to take Jesus out of the box. I said, “We are a church; it’s just wrong in some way.” He wrote me a note several months later, while I was working in another church, to say that he finally, thanks to me, took Jesus out of the box. I called him to say, “Thank you, pastor. I will sleep better knowing Jesus is not in a box anymore.” He said his son kept asking him why Jesus had to be in the box. We cannot keep Jesus in a box.
Today we need to be examples of God’s love much more than ever before—no one knows the day or hour. Let’s be the light in a world that we know is self-destructing. If there be a rift at home, resolve it. If there are parental issues, solve them. (Do not ever put yourself or your children in harms way. If you have to use a phone, if that is the only way you feel safe, do that. Use good judgment.)
My point is, in broken homes you find peace, so make peace the best you can and the rest is on them. Remember, the Father is always watching; it is what is in your heart that matters. Start the new year planning to set aside time for yourself and make that a reality, because you are as important as the many others you are trying to make happy. They should want you to be happy also. No arguing—make this happen.
If you needed words of knowledge, here they are: treat yourself as good as you treat others.
