Forever Love

Ok, so, there’s this guy. And he’s mad in love with this woman. Like crazy in love. She’s all he can think about and he just pines for her. He desires her and yearns to have her for forever, but she puts some distance between them. She hurts herself and doesn’t even realize it. She thinks she’s having fun flirting with man after man, giving more attention to some than others. She mixes all kinds of substances for any kind of other worldly experience.

 The pain of the whole ordeal is almost too much for him. Each time she thinks she’s having fun, it breaks his heart more and more- it’s like her wounds are ripping him apart too. He’s tried talking to her but she won’t listen. He just wants to take her in his arms and help her feel everything that she’s been missing. He wants to help her heal, but she won’t come to him. Again and again he talks to her, but she’s too distracted to see who he really is.

Finally, after years and years of this, their relationship reaches a pinnacle point. He’s made a decision, knowing it’s the only thing that can help her. It’s the only thing that will bring them together. It’s the only thing that will help her have the real life she’s been trying to chase. So, He picks up His cross, and like a lamb quietly being led to the slaughter, He goes. He’s willing to suffer so she can be healed. He’s willing to sacrifice His life so she can have a real one. That’s us with Christ. We, the Church, are His eternal bride. He’s done so much for us, how do we respond?

Put It In a Box! ...Maybe not??

How often do we put people in boxes? We give them boundaries (whether or not we realize it) to who we think they are and how we see our relationships. Specifically in my own life, this has come to a new realization. Long story short, it’s dawned on me how I’ve placed a whole “recent” experience in a box- like we do to so many other things in life. The box doesn’t contain a monster or a surprise or something I don’t want to look at, but it’s just how it’s been stored in my memory….

Essentially, when we place something in a box and sit to look upon it, what do we see? We see one side of that box. Maybe two. Or, if you’re at a really good angle, 3! …Therein lies the problem: there are 8 sides to a box. Of the total 8 sides, we only see 3 of them at best. Even when we move the box to see a new side, we’ve suddenly lost track of the other sides. Such is life, no? We do this a lot with our Lord, right? We think we figure part of God out, or a concept about Him, or one may be so bold as to even say they have Him or their relationship with Him figured out. Then what? Well, we’ve already placed Him in a box, one with infinitely more sides to it than we can even count!

We are faced with one side of Him, whichever one He decides to place in front of us, then after a while He slowly turns it to reveal something else- a different side. We think happily to ourselves that we have figured out something of Him or that we have successfully learned a lesson and that’s why He is allowing us to move on. Perhaps yes and perhaps no. If we are presented with the same side of God in new ways does it still look the same to us? Are we even aware that it’s a side that we’ve already seen before? In any capacity, God can’t fit in a box. Definitely not one that we made for Him. Let’s be serious! He made us to be the vessels (Rom9:20-21/2Cor4:7-18).

He placed His Son within us. This clay does not shape the Potter, such a thing just cannot physically happen. But it’s how we file things away, right? “Ok, I got this! Let’s pack it up and move on.” So not real life! Let’s face it: God has placed us in a box called, “Life in this world.” I imagine it’s probably a pretty small box, so we have to utilize the space in it with everything that is to be kept in here… So, what has the most priority in your box? The safest place? What’s the thing on top that is easiest to reach in and take out so you can look over it again and again? What’s the most valuable?