LET GOD OUT OF THE BOX!

Matthew 6:24-34


Image result for God out of the boxIn 1988, when Bobby McFerrin released his a cappella hit, "Don't Worry,Be Happy," I was, well, a lot younger.  These days, I'm much more pragmatic,and a bit more cynical.  Let's be real, here, folks.  These days -- what don't we worry about?  Yet, Jesus' advice to us in Matthew 6:24-34 in these troubling times is just that, "Don't Worry!"


Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in a box.  It's a box I've carefully constructed.  The walls are made out of everything I don't have and concerns about keeping what I do have.  I've reinforced the sides with all my limitations.  Into it, I've packed it full everything I worry about, from paying the bills to how I'm going to handle all the changes that have been happening to me.  

Then I've crawled into and pulled it shut after me.  It's confining and gets a bit stuffy, and the view stinks.  It's a 350 degree panorama of impossibilities and dead ends.

And to make matters worse, I've confined God to the parameters of my scarcity and limitations.  I can't see God's power and possibilities because I can't see them through my weakness and impossibilities.

Jesus releases God from the captivity of our limited thinking and expectations by opening our eyes to glimpse the extent of God's all encompassing love.  God cares for even the little birds and the lilies of the fields -- the sparrows and the creeping charlie -- and of course us, whom God loves so much that He gave His only Son up as a sacrifice for our redemption.  And then he lifts us out of our box with this implied promise:  If  God loves and cares for these, God will surely love and care for we who are more valuable and precious to him.  Standing outside of our box of finite perceptions, we can see and imagine all the God possibilities that are waiting for us.  We have hope!

Don't worry.  There will always be bills to pay and unexpected emergencies and challenges.  Winter and it's cold and snow storms are going to happen whether we want them to or not.  There are enough things to deal with every day, so we shouldn't worry ourselves into a box. 

Don't worry -- have faith in the love and power of God that is always with us and will always see us through, no matter what.

Don't worry -- have hope.  Anticipate, based on what God has done for us in the past, what God is doing now and will do in the future.  Nothing can tear open a box of worry like hope.

Don't worry -- be thankful even when there doesn't seem to be anything worth be thankful for,  because God works for our good in every circumstance. (Romans 8:28)
Let God out of the box - let's keep our eyes and our minds open to height and depth of who God is, so we can freely and joyfully follow Christ.



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