Choosing to live “outside of the box” that society, people’s expectations, our own mindsets and beliefs, and the status quo can be threatening.
Many find the freedom of living out of the “box” confronting. We can very easily become accustomed to our habits, pressures, our past and the rules around us, and if the truth be told, we can be become challenged, fearful and offended when we are pushed to move forward or others venture beyond the norm and breakthrough in their lives.
Yet the bible says that when we ask Jesus into our lives, He takes off the limits and encourages us to step out of we’ve been boxed in and offers us freedom instead. He gives us the ability to choose, to grow, to discover and to live. The battle is whether we will be brave enough to embrace that lifestyle and belief system or stay within the confines of the status quo, our comfortability and what is usual for us and expected.
Even the church and many who seek to follow Jesus and His ways can remain locked behind walls of religion, rules and limitations in their thinking and expressions of faith. Instead of believing that all things are possible for the person who believes and that who the Son (Jesus) sets free is free indeed, religion has allowed circumstances, traditions, societal norms and the tactics of the devil to define and confine to where it “seems” safe, normal, inoffensive and acceptable to the masses.
But, God wants so much more for us, and if you look through God’s Word, you will discover account after account of people who refused to live within the limits and expectations of their time. They chose with God’s help to push past the boundaries of their faith, race, gender, their past, and natural abilities.
One of the people whose “out of the box” life is documented in the Bible is Abraham. He dared to believe God, forsaking the limits and acceptance of family, comfortability and culture and left everything he knew to venture forth into a land he did not know.
He believed for a son even when any hope of naturally fathering a child to his wife was lost. He followed God as He spoke and directed him on how to live and chose to walk out his life beyond limits. This is why God calls Him the “Father of faith.” (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:6; Romans 4:16)
Today I encourage you to examine any limits or confining mindsets in your life. Are you locked into a lifestyle, thinking and system that was never God’s plan for you? Have you become comfortable when God wants to continue to stretch and cause you to grow. If so, take some time to examine these limits and then ask God to set you free from them.
Because one of the main reasons Jesus died and rose again is to release you from bondage, limitations and weight and to bring you the freedom to live as the person He created you to be. “For who the Son sets free is free indeed.” (John 8:36)
Jesus himself said these words; “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18)
“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” (Galatians 5:1)
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for the freedom you offer me. Would you please help me live beyond mine or other peoples walls and the world’s system so that I can truly live free in you? Could you help me to step out of the box today? In Jesus Name Amen.
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