Compartment-Sized Jesus

We live in a world that pulls us in so many directions. A world that entices us to participate in all kinds of activities. A world that invites us to become different people depending on the circumstances. Before long we may feel divided. We feel the pressure to be one person at work, another at home, and still another at church. Sometimes our environment demands that certain aspects of our personalities come to the forefront in order to be more productive or successful. Every day our culture makes it easier to be comfortable in the compartmentalization of our lives, from the way our society functions, to the way we "do" church, and on down to the daily activities of our lives. Generally, we just think it works better if everything were to fit in nice, neat, clean boxes. Then when the time comes we wade through our stack until we find the one we are looking for... Let's see, this box is for my job. This one is for weekends at the lake with friends. This box is for school. This one is for home. Ahh, here it is...this dusty one is for Sunday morning.

Paul talks about it in terms of old and new (Colossians 3). We used to live a life that was easily divided by worldly values and priorities. But now that we are clothed in Christ the old is gone and the new has come. We put to death the old way of trying to compartmentalize our lives to suit our own desires. Instead, this new life is full of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, peace, thankfulness, and love. Sometimes I think we get confused by the "clothing" language. Clothing to us still suggests that we are in control of what we wear. If it is cold outside we might put on a jacket. If it's warm maybe a t-shirt and shorts. We choose to put on or take off our clothing however we see fit. I think Paul would suggest that being clothed with Christ is a way of life, it's like new skin. You can't take it on and off...if you are clothed in Him, you are done shopping for life!

See, Jesus makes it difficult to compartmentalize our lives. It isn't possible to follow him one or two days a week. He demands my soul, my life, my all. We're not perfect. We will mess up. But He wants every moment, every breath, every movement of every day to be surrendered to living for Him. Unfortunately we still try to stuff Jesus into a compartment of our own construction. He probably sits back and shakes his head. He loves us even through our attempts to shrink-wrap him. But he loves us in a way that continually calls us to more...more love, more surrender, more faith, more trust, more selflessness...more room for Him to do more in us than we could ever ask or imagine!

May we live each day with Jesus as our tailor...

-Mike