Boxes are a common sight in our modern world. They come in cardboard, plastic, wood, and metal. We’re surrounded by boxes in our workplace, in stores, and in our homes. Right now, in various closets in my home, there are boxes that have remained unpacked since the family’s last move in 2011. The truth is that boxes are a part of our world and are around us everywhere. This morning, as I watched my cat play inside a box, I was reminded of a conversation I had with one of my college students yesterday.
Who are you at your core?
William Shakespeare, the great English playwright and bard, wrote a line in his play, Hamlet, that is actually very sound advice: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, 78-80). We are living in a time where society demands the opposite.
As a college-level instructor, I am often asked how, in modern American society, should a person’s faith be apparent. In fact, I was asked a variation of this very question yesterday and was able to explain to her why her interpretation was not dangerous. She approached me with the idea that somehow she must leave her faith at home when she is at work, performing some civic duty (such as jury duty or voting), and while at the college. She then explained that society demanded she do just this very thing. Her actions and this view, which is held by many, is far from the advice offered by Shakespeare’s character, Polonius, or the Bible, for that matter.
I believe that one of the mistakes made by many Christians is the idea that our faith is just a religion. After all, how can we hold any other view of Christianity if this is all that has been taught for generations? As a part of my responsibilities at the college where I work, I also teach world civilization. This includes a fairly lengthy discussion on religions and philosophies of the ancient world to about 1500. One of the things that has always intrigued me is that Christianity, in its purest form, is not supposed to be just a religion. Biblical Christianity is supposed to be a way of life, a philosophy and a religion. And this is where we fail to adhere to the teachings of Jesus. When we do anything but allow our faith in Jesus affect all that we do, we are living a double life and have two sets of standards – the “secular” and the “religious.” It is when this happens that we transform the power of the gospel from something that is truly life-changing into something that has very little impact in our life.
The apostle James wrote, A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). This double-mindedness is what happens when we begin to place parts of our lives in boxes. One box has everything about our faith, one box has how we are to behave at work, and another box for school, and another box for social organizations, and yet another box for family… Pretty soon, our lives can begin to look like a warehouse of boxes stacked to the ceiling. Instead of being one complete person which is the way God created us to be, we divide ourselves into parts to fit every situation and demand.
When we divide who we are and how we behave among any number of boxes, we are actually dividing our loyalties. We are no longer Christ-centered. Our faith becomes a small part of our lives instead of being what God intended it to be – the core of our existence. There is so much that Jesus tried to warn us about during His earthly ministry. In fact, he told all who would listen, No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).
Vaya con Dios: Go with God…
I am a fan of older movies, especially Westerns. In many of those movies, the phrase, vaya con Dios became a popular part of the western movie genre vocabulary. It is a simple phrase meaning, go with God. In the context used, it was a blessing that one bestowed on a friend, compatriot, or family member as they departed on some quest or journey. It is actually a great reminder in whatever we do, wherever we go, we should go with God. Our belief in Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior should be a part of everything we do and everything we are: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men (Colossians 3:23).
We have to come to the understanding that as Christians, we are still living in this world. Just because we live in the world does not me we have to live as the world. In 2006, I made a promise to the Lord that I completely gave Him and him alone lordship in my life. I noticed that as my excitement and love of the Lord began to grow, so did the impact He had on my life. It changed the way I studied history. It changed the way I performed at work and in my graduate classes. It changed the way I studied politics and foreign policy. It even began to change how I saw myself and my relationship with others. This is God’s intent with the free gift of salvation He offers to all – it is to be a life transforming moment! From that moment, it is meant to be a continual process of spiritual growth and development. It is meant to be an active faith that takes us from this life and beyond.
Emptying the boxes of our cluttered lives
Once we fully accept obedience to Jesus is to be the central focus of our life, everything else falls into its proper perspective. For me, the most challenging part of it was unpacking all the mental boxes I had created over nearly a lifetime. I was not a Christian until 2006 but I still had those mental boxes. It is actually a liberating experience when we come to the realization we do not need the boxes and we can be the same person and behave the same way regardless of where we are.
