If you have a name... you have a box. Have you ever felt that way? The moment we say THIS IS WHO I AM, people try to put us in a box and even we tend to put ourselves in a box. It is true that when we say YES to something, we said NO to a whole bunch of other things because the fact of the matter is, we can't do it all, and we certainly can't do a lot of things well at the same time. It's also interesting that when we have a name, there are simply things that people won't ever accept from us just because it was said by... me. Perhaps that's one of the powers of anonymity that if people don't know who I am, I can say whatever I want, whatever comes to my head. In fact sometimes anonymity is the only way we're heard at all. There's a certain freedom that comes when you can say what you mean and mean what you say. Too many boxes, too little freedom.
Our encouragement to you this month is to recognize that not all boxes are bad when they are ones God has ordained. The Psalmist says "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely I have a delightful inheritance” It is good to be in the box that God has us in. But we also have a tendency to be frustrated with where God has us in life, and for all of you who are younger I hate to say that this frustration isn't confined only to when we're young adults. Sometimes life just doesn't come fast enough and freedom is ever so elusive. As you consider the way you may feel about being boxed in sometimes, take a look at Galatians Chapter 5, select verses:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."... You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
So what's the box you're in right now? A career path that's not working out? A family relationship that's keeping you from enjoying the fullness of being a child of God? College plans limiting what you thought your future might be? Not with the right person? No person? Whatever SEASON of life you find yourself in, whether a full life right now or one that's leaving you feeling fairly empty, remember that God can and will use even the hard seasons to develop in you the "fruit that will last".
We are praying for you, praying for this generation of young adults as well as older generations that whatever season of life this is, that God would use our boxes to work in us - “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Against such things there is no box! Walking with Jesus, we find LIFE, living out his word we produce fruit and find freedom!
God be with you always! Keep Climbing!