Don't Get Boxed In

For years, at least in the business world, a big saying has been to think outside the box. The theory is that we all have our own boxes and that the majority of our ideas come from that box because it contains all of our training and experience, etc. Thinking outside of that box is to come up with ideas that are so different from the norm that they will actually work. They’ve talked this idea to death in the business world, and I know that it also spilled into the real world.

The reason I mention this is because I think that quite often we as Christians live inside boxes of our own. We’re seen by the outside world as regular, boring, etc. I mean, aren’t all Christians people who go to church every Sunday, and are nice people? Don’t they do things for others because it’s what they should do? And they never have arguments or problems, right? Why do we have to be a stereotype?

I’m not saying that you should go bar hopping every night, or fight with people just to prove you are different. What I am saying is that we need to show the world that it’s not boring to be a Christian. Let me give you an example: this past weekend Traci and I took the boys to Winter Jam in Cleveland. This is a great concert that has quite big diversity in the bands and fans that attend. There was a guy dressed up like the joker (he was a youth pastor of a church in fact) and then there were people easily in their 50’s and above there to watch. The bands were diverse as well. The headliner was Third Day. They have been around for awhile and have a huge following. They are more of a rock emphasis, but they are great at doing hymns as well. Before them was Tenth Avenue North. This group of 4 guys is not a huge rock sound, but not R&B either. Then there was Thousand Foot Krutch and Fireflight. They are definitely hard rock. I was taken back to my head banging days with these groups. They really rocked the place, and left everyone wanting more. Sidewalk Prophets seem to be more of an R&B type group, and actually started their set by doing Man in the Mirror that was originally from Michael Jackson. There was also Revive (looked like a much hipper Jonas brothers kind of group) and Robert Pierre who is a solo act who is only 17 and wore a pink shirt with a vest over it!

Each of these groups was unique. They were anything but your cookie cutter Christians that the world tries to portray us as. We had one guy with dread locks and face paint, almost every male had his ears pierced, and of course the guy in pink. Then, instead of the hymns that the world thinks we listen to all the time you had some bands doing rock music that almost blew the lid off of the Wolstein Center. You see, these groups are not going to be limited by any box.

We don’t have to be who the world thinks we should be. How boring would that be? How would we get others to a relationship with Christ if we didn’t have anything in common with people in the world? I’m not saying that it’s ok to do many things that people in the world do, but what I’m saying is that it’s ok to go out there and shine. You can have a Mohawk and still love God. You can pierce your nose, listen to rock music, and dress up like the Joker if you wanted to do so. In fact, I’d like to encourage people to do things just like that. Sure, it’s not for everyone (me included) and it takes a special person to do some of those things. I don’t expect everyone to be that way, or how would reach the people that are more like us “normal” folks? My main point this week is that we don’t have to live inside the box. You can be “different” and still be effective for Christ in leading others to Him. Go ahead and think outside the box, and you might just find a lot of other people there, waiting for you to lead them.