Growing up we had Wildcats, Cougars, Mustangs, and Chargers for names of fast cars, they were names you could associate with, and sounded cool. We could picture them in our minds. Today we have Camry, Civic, Altima, and the ever exciting Escape. And we had SS, SST, AMX, and GT. Today we have Limited. Just doesn't make it for a testosterone laden young car guy. But 40 years ago the cars of our dreams were different, and just out of reach when we were still too young to drive. So we retreated into the world of models, and we built the scale models of them, making the engine noises, and dreaming of the day we would have one of our own. AMT, the model company, sold theirs as 3-in-1 kits. They could be built as stock, like the ones you see on the street, racing, with slicks, fat tires, and decals, or custom, with styling influenced by George Barris, Dean Jeffries, or Darryl Starbird. And you could customize to your heart's content, making it custom, looking like the picture on the box, provided the parts came with the kit. Individualized like the thousand others just like it.
And the boxes were collectible too, although we didn't use that word. Cool pictures on them, they weren't graphics yet. We just saved them. And I learned from the older guys, the 10-12 group, to save the old parts for use on other cars. Don't throw the unused parts away, they could be used on another model, just like real customizers did. Put a Ford grill in a Pontiac, Olds wheels on a Chevy, or stick a blower out of the hood from another car and you were up there with the best of the customizers. Use more than the parts that came in the box, and don't limit yourself to what came with it. Let your imagination take you places that your other friends didn't go. And when they would comment that "I didn't get those wheels with my model," you were King of the Kustomizers, like George Barris, at least among your prepubescent peers.
And this was perhaps my first experience of thinking outside of the box. Not limiting myself, or being limited by what came in the kit, but using all resources available to me, and doing things that others couldn't, and didn't due to being limited to what was in their box.
In my walk with Christ, God encourages me to worship and build a relationship "outside of the box." Don't be held down by a denomination's interpretation of the Bible, but go straight to Him, and find an infinite God who loves you. When I think of religion, man has made it so hard. Ask a Lutheran, what they believe, and you may get a different answer than a Baptist, or a Presbyterian. Explain what your club or church is, spending more time with the differences than sharing what you are about, and what you signed up to do-minister. And that is sad, because we all have the same Jesus, and the same Bible He has given us to read. And left us the same spirit to guide us. But sadly, some get hung up on the religious and legalistic side of God, or even create one. Honoring the laws, but neglecting to know the person who fulfilled it. Recently I broke away from a ministry I was with for over 34 years, and found a freedom that only God can give. I found that rules, quotas, and performance figures that were set up on the other side of the country, didn't fit what God was showing me. Board rooms were boring, and God wanted me to operate under is plan, not someone else's vision for me. And that I was becoming an outcast among my peers, because I was not allowing myself to be boxed up or boxed in with them by their rules and religion. I had found freedom in the spirit, and sadly it caused a schism among some who I ministered with. Those who thought they were doing a good job obeying their ministry's goals, but neglecting what God had for them. Monthly reports which when analyzed only showed the failures, even a column for missed opportunities. Just following orders from whoever was above them, and thinking they were doing God's work, if you met their criteria, when oft times sidelined by a superior officer just following orders from above. Pleasing man, and substituting his goals for God's. I had become molded into a ministry, instead of God molding me how He wanted-and the differences can be huge. There is no peace found in the law, and I see ministries today dying because of their relationship to big business. Who wants more laws in their life? Please explain the freedom in the law to me if you can! Quotas to meet, and limitations put on them due to religious differences, not focusing on Jesus, but the differences in denominations. And this grieves God, for He didn't set it up this way. And makes true rebels out of those who choose God over an organization.
Since following God, and forsaking a ministry's bounds, I am more effective and more joyful than ever before. And I find myself referring to advice I was given years ago when God gave me a desire and vision for ministry. I was told "don't follow any organization or church, but be true to the vision God gave you and to the God who gave it to you." Good advice. And although I still believe these ministries to be viable and God influenced, I find serving God and not man is where the blessings come from. Answer to God, not some organization. Every rule an organization has goes contrary to operating in the spirit, and limiting God.
There is a freedom walking in the spirit, that if you haven't I can't explain. And it will upset some people, because they are stuck in their religious boxes. It's like Wyatt and Billy around the camp fire in Easy Rider, when George explains to them that people are afraid of them because they are free. And will kill them to protect themselves from the same freedom they could be enjoying, and desire. Does that sound like where you are at? Is your church behind your ministry, or are you constantly being told to fit in better? Is the organization you minister with trusting God, or limiting Him by rules and legalistic men who claim to follow God, but really are just following a corporate dictate? Is your peer group getting smaller as you get closer to God? And are experiencing a joy and freedom in the spirit that your friends don't get?
Escape the box, and trust Jesus today. Ditch legalism, and trust God. Know His character, and instead of a good ministry member, be an obedient servant to God. Go places, see things, and experience the joys talked of in the Bible. And get to know a God so personal that He sent His only son to die for you. Think outside of the box that you are stuck in, and watch as God molds you into the person He wants you to be, and the joy it brings.
Two kinds of ministers out there-moldy or molded. I choose to be molded by God, not to fit into an organization. The changes they make in your life are temporal, the changes Jesus makes in your life are eternal. He who is set free in Christ is free indeed! There will be unity in the spirit in heaven, where does it say we have to wait till then?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com