Are you an organized person? Do you have a place in your home for everything? If you are like me, our medicine is in the medicine cabinet. Cleaning supplies are in two areas: one is under the kitchen sink, and the other area is above the washer machine. My socks are in the sock drawer, and my extra toilet paper is under the bathroom sink. Ideally, all my tools are in one place in my toolbox.
As I have been stretched by the Lord this year, I have come to a painful realization: I have put God in a box. Now, I want to be clear about this box: it is beautiful. I keep front and center on my shelf. I make sure it is always clean. It is in a place of honor in my home, but the crushing truth is I have put Jesus in a box.
I put Jesus in a box when my prayer life is routine, and my worship is the same week after week. Jesus stays in the box when I don’t ask Him for help with my problems. I’ve realized I still have Him in my box. Here is the problem with Putting Jesus in my box: That box limits what He can do in my life.
The Jesus I read about in the Gospels is not in a box. What He can do is not limited to my limited understanding. His ways are so much higher than my limited understanding. The other day, I listened to Francis Chan point out why the box I placed Jesus in was so limiting. Francis said everything we read in the Book of Acts is still available today. Do we believe it? If we do not believe, then guess what? We have Jesus in a box.
This Thursday, for Maundy Thursday at 6 PM, we can take Jesus out of our boxes. Please embrace all the stations we will set up in our Foyer, which we will transform into a consecration room. This is where we can empty ourselves, be thankful, pray, seek forgiveness, and take communion alone before God. Then, we can enter the sanctuary on Holy Ground and worship the Risen King!
What if you start preparing for this night right now? What if you take God out of your box of limitations and ask Jesus to meet you in a new way this Thursday? What if you ask for healing, ask for the restoration of relationships? Maybe the Holy Spirit will show you how Holy God is and how much Jesus suffered so that you and I can be free.
One of Jesus’ last words to the disciples in Acts 1 was this: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” I was excited and expectant that the Holy Spirit would come upon each of us this Thursday as we empty ourselves and remember just what Jesus did for us on that Cross.
I will see you on Thursday, and I will have been emptying myself and expecting the Holy Spirit to meet me just as He will meet you. I pray this interaction will alter our lives. Watch this clip for more understanding.
In Him,
Pastor Chris
P.S. The front doors of the church will be locked and covered, so please enter the side door by the Pastor’s Office.