“REED” This

Boxes

We’ve been seeing and using a lot of boxes here lately. It is finally time to begin moving into our new location. We’ve seen many boxes that were packed well over a year ago that are just coming out of storage. We’ve purchased new boxes and have been taping the bottoms, filling them up, taping the tops, and labeling them so we know what is in them and where they need to be put. For me, there are still many more boxes that I need to fill with music, books, audio cables, desk stuff, and other things that I haven’t had the time to pack.

You can’t move without boxes. They are essential. Some things can simply be picked up and carried, but there are millions of little things that need to be put into a box so it can be carried and moved more efficiently. Whoever invented the cardboard box was a genius, along with the person who invented tape. Of course, after working with them so much after a few days, you sort of never want to see them again.

Being able to put several things into one box is very convenient. These things can be similar items or a variety of different items that are from the same area. Once inside the box and it’s closed, as long as there are no mishaps, everything stays together no matter where it is moved. Not only can a box keep many things in one place, it can also protect those items, keeping things from being scratched or broken. When boxes are all the same size, they are easily stacked to be moved by a hand truck and/or stored. When you have a bunch of them, it’s like playing blocks when you were a child. How high can we stack them before they fall? Will it work okay if I put the little one on the bottom? How can we make them all fit into this truck?

Keeping things together in a box is good for moving. But once you’ve moved it, it’s time to open it up and get everything out. The reason I haven’t packed some things is because I am still using them. Those items will be the last to be packed in a box but the first to be brought out because I need them almost on a daily basis. I can’t keep those things boxed up and just stored. They are too important in my daily and weekly activities. Much like those things, my walk with Christ cannot be put in a box and left there. Being a Christian and my church life is not something that is just in a certain box of my life. It is who I am and what I am. Too many times Christians will compartmentalize their lives in ways where their relationship with God is put in a box and only brought out once a week on Sunday morning. A person may can do that with a job, but not with one’s relationship with Jesus. As a Christian, your relationship with Jesus is what everything else fits into because being a Christian is who you are. Being a Christian should determine how you act, how you talk, what you do, what you don’t do, how you treat others, how you respond to life around you, and basically everything in your life. That cannot be put into a box, and yet many try to do just that.

Boxes are good for a lot of things, but never for someone to put God in. We should always want to have God shine out in our lives so others will see Who is making the difference in our lives. “Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, June 14, 2022