A BOX WITH NO WALLS

So often I have been cautioned about putting God into a box, to limit Him, to make Him smaller than He really is.  It seems that those who would liberate God from His box advocate a God with NO limits, that “It” is everything to everyone, that “It” is so big that “It” cannot be comprehended nor “Its” will imagined.

On the one hand there is the boxed in God: limited with defendant opinions on how we should live.  On the other there is the unboxed, “unlimited” God who has little impact because “Its” will for our lives cannot be determined nor “Its” desires perceived.

What does an unlimited God want?  What demands does “It” place on our lives?  “It” can place none because “Its” desires and will cannot be perceived nor comprehended.

How can a finite creature come to terms with an infinite God, unless that God reveals Himself?  In that act of revelation, God takes on definition.  He has a definable will and purpose for our world, our race, our nation and our lives.  It’s not because “I say so”, but because “He says so”.  Suddenly it is no longer “anything goes” but “this is what God wants” and “this is what God desires.”

As Christians, we believe that God has revealed Himself to us, generally through His creation and specifically through Holy Scripture.  The chatechism in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayers states: “God first helped us by revealing himself and his will, through nature and history, through many seers and saints, and especially through the prophets of Israel.”  And therein lies one reason for hostility or indifference toward the Bible.  If God has revealed Himself in Scripture, then Scripture is an objective source for what God wants and desires, for what is good, right and moral.  Yet the natural human condition desires to set its own rules for how to live.  This leaves us with a choice: to disregard the Bible or to bow humbly before the Word of God.

What place does God’s Word have in your life?  If your Bible were taken from you, would it make a difference?