God In A Box

I just don’t get God.  I actually sometimes forget that He is God and I am not. I can so easily attempt to take over His role, wanting to pack my life into a neatly wrapped box. Got my schedule for the week? Check. Errands done? Check. Workouts in? Check. Things can go south when things don’t go as planned, can’t they? There is no room for injuries, interruptions, chaos, relational strife, delayed flights, etc.

Life has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? As much as we want life to be under our control and fit nicely into a neat box, it doesn’t. I bet Tony Parker, of the San Antonio Spurs, felt that way this week. With another playoff run in motion, Parker certainly wouldn’t have thought that one step toward a basket would cause such a grave injury.

This past week, I was listening to a song by Natalie Grant “King of the World.” Check out these words….
I tried to fit you in the walls inside my mind
I try to keep you safely in between the lines
I try to put you in the box that I’ve designed
I try to pull you down so we are eye to eye
When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world?
I try to take life back right out of the hands of the king of the world
How could I make you so small
When you’re the one who holds it all
When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world….

How do you try to fit God into the walls inside your mind? How do you keep Him safely in between the lines? How do you put him in the box you’ve designed? How do you pull Him down so that you are eye to eye? Maybe, just maybe, it’s safer to treat God like this. Friend, you miss out on the enormity of the King of the World!

There is no direction you can go that can escape His presence or His love. You can try to put limits on God, based on what you believe or don’t believe, but God will burst through your limits. You can even suggest that you’re a pretty good person, making a pretty good difference in this world. In God’s eyes, He’s more interested in your heart. Yes, your heart.

When did you forget that He’s always been the king of the world?

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.