Out of Your Box

John 20:19 (ESV) "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'”

 If walls can't contain God, your box that you have him in, can't either. In this passage Jesus just appeared into the locked room where the eleven apostles were gathered. They thought that he was a phantom, and were afraid!  Even though masonry or stone walls are immaterial to Jesus, so is your own preconceived ideas of him. Many people have created their own Jesus (sic) in their minds, who is in a box about three feet wide, eighteen-inches thick, and six-feet tall - it is the box the size of you! That box is immaterial, but it's walls are made of pride, and is your own doctrine!

Jesus doesn't do this. Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus only works this way. Jesus is always positive. Jesus's grace doesn't require obedience. Jesus requires this or that. You must actually say Jesus name for that to work. Jesus will allow me into heaven although I deny him. Jesus won't send anybody to hell. These are some of the attributes of your boxed in Jesus. Your Jesus must follow your strict rules, and he is not allowed o deviate from your own doctrine!

For instance, Calvinists have put Jesus in a horrible box. You can live a life of sin without remorse, and expect eternal life. As a Calvinist, you merely stand, lay, or sit there; and Jesus saves you, and you have no say in the matter. As a Calvinist, if you have been selected, you get a free ticket to heaven, plus a bonus ticket to a life of hedonistic pleasure. If you are a Calvinist, those who oppose your doctrine are evil because they believe works mean something!

Then there are many who steal justice from God, and fail to allow him to judge. In their minds, they have done good, and God will never punish them. Many even believe hell is non-existent, and that Jesus has no place to allow justice to be served. They put Jesus in a strong container, and don't allow him to judge!

Others use God's name in vain, and contain Jesus with flippancy. He won't care if you use his name for Surprise! or as a comma in a sentence. Their Jesus is a weak God, and apathetic to our vanity.

Some don't even put Jesus in a box, but contain him at arms length. He never existed, even in spite of historical evidence.

Some put him in a educational box, and allow him to be only a teacher. Others put him in a pretty box and use him as an example of a do-gooder.

Others have him in an mythological box where he can't be in heaven because heaven is fictitious.

Most people put him in a box with them on top. They are the people who are self-indulgent, and do what they want to do, because their desire is more powerful than God's will.

Let me explain Jesus to you: He IS God! He does whatever is his will, because whatever he does is right and good. If he wants to have you, you are his. He doesn't do things by formulae or by the individually created doctrines of others. He can rebirth you even if you resist, but he can also wait until you accept him. He suits his own purpose. He is Almighty God!

If you deny him, he can allow Satan to take even Christians away. If he feels overly graceful, he can protect you from the evil one. If you live a life of goodness, he can turn his eyes from your works, If you sin all through your life, if he wants, he can reward you with heaven. His only requirement is belief, and that you remain faithful. Jesus is not in your box; he crated the box and called it the heavens. There are no walls to heaven. It's expanse goes on forever. God's world is without walls; why do you attempt to contain him with your narrow viewpoint.

The reason that some scripture appears to have contradicting doctrine is because God's doctrine is flexible; he does whatever he wills! You can't say: God doesn't do things that way! because God can do it anyway he wants! Simon Magus put God in a box:

Acts 8:12 (KJV)  But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. 14  Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15  Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. 18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost."

Simon saw Peter and John laying on hands, and believed this method was a secret way of obtaining power. He wanted to know the process for calling up the Holy Ghost - the very Spirit of Jesus. Simon put God in a box of his own, thinking that he could control Jesus. This notion was from a new-born, and baptized Christian who immediately developed his own doctrine -  his Jesus was one he wanted to control. His box was his own mind! If you have placed God in your doctrinal box, you are much like Simon! 

Open the door to Jesus. Take him out of your doctrinal box. He has the power to do whatever he wants, so your attempt to boxing him in is silly in his eyes. Maybe it is you that is in the box, and need out!

John 8:32 (KJV) " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."