Burn the BOX!!!

The challenge we face today as followers of Jesus is to learn to listen and follow his vision even if it takes us way outside the "normal" bounds of how we the church has done things for the last century.

I was watching a very profound biblical movie the other night with Lisa and the boys, maybe you have heard of it...Evan Almighty. There is a scene where Evan is in his driveway and has just discovered that God has called him to build an ark. Evan begins this laundry list of his plans and what HE was going to do with his life. God, played once again by Morgan Freeman just busts out laughing. I instantly thought of the verse in Proverbs that says "the one enthroned in Heaven laughs." Wow, our best laid plans cause God to laugh. Why? Because most of the time we do not consult him regarding what we are to do.

Once Evan realized that he could not escape God's call, he set himself to building a boat. It was not outside the box thinking, it wasn't even cutting edge thinking. It was I have burned the box, thrown out the map and said 'OK GOD whatca got' kind of thinking.

That is the kind of thinking we need to have today if we are going to make any impact on this world for Jesus. I am not talking about making the gospel 'fun' [although if we can't laugh who can, that's another post], or watered down so that what is preached is just rubbish. Paul himself said that I have become all things to all men so that by doing so I may save some. [1 Cor 9:22-23] He never compromised the gospel, but he burned the box of conventional thinking to reach those who had not heard of Jesus. That is what we are supposed to do as well. Don't be afraid to burn the box of conventional thinking. Don't be afraid to push against the status quo of fundamentalism. Burn the BOX! Think of radical ways to reach people for Jesus. One random act of kindness at a time in the name of Christ will have an impact that will reach for generations to come.