We have all heard the expressions “push the envelope” and “think outside the box.” They seem to be clearly modern expressions.
The first expression is an idiom most likely originated by World War II pilots and popularized by The Right Stuff author Tom Wolfe, who quoted pilots using the phrase “pushing the envelope” to mean challenging speed records and other aerial feats. The second expression’s origin is obscure, but it was popularized in part because of a nine-dot puzzle which John Adair claims to have introduced in 1969.
Taken together, these two common expressions describe the idea of creatively pushing possibilities and realities beyond preconceived notions, perceptions, and limits. Very modern notions, to say the least!
But these are not really modern notions.
Scriptural Support for a Limitless Christ
Scripture is brimming with various accounts of Christ’s rejection of the preconceived notions of His day. One need only look at such accounts as His curing the sick on the Sabbath, his rejection of outdated and legalistic ideas that ailments were God’s direct punishment for past or generational sins. He even brought the dead back to life, and He included women in his group in contradiction of societal norms and customs.
In both word and action, Jesus made it abundantly clear that God Almighty is the only determiner of limits in the universe. Any limits we perceive beyond the Will of God are the product of our own delusion, illusion, lack of faith, and sinfulness.
Our Ironic Contradiction of a Limitless Christ
Through the years, there has been no shortage of confused souls claiming that Our Lord had limits to what he could do or proclaim. Did not the Pharisees and other religious leaders of his day not proclaim Christ as a mere charlatan? Did not later beliefs such as Arianism claim that Jesus was not God?
Among the many lessons that we can learn from Our Lord, none are any more obvious that earthly limits are merely that, “earthly.” Christ constantly showed everyone that God’s ways are not our ways and that faith often means following and consenting to God’s Will regardless of how well we understand it.
Clearly, scripture often shows us the limitless power of God to create, transcend, overturn, and befuddle our measly and very overrated powers of reasoning and sense of what is right. Despite this, however, scripture also shows us just how often, and how vociferously, we like to wave our fingers at God, trying to tie Him down to our terms and boundaries. Every time I hear someone obnoxiously utter the pompous and clueless proclamation that “the God that I believe in would never” do this or that, I want to throw my hands up in despair.
No Limits
Proverbs tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely” (3:5). Scripture tells us not to limit our embrace of God’s Will to when things go our way (2 Cor 1: 6-7). How often do we even put limits on God’s mercy and power to forgive, holding him to our feeble and often pathetic abilities to do the same? Scripture also reminds us not to limit God to what we are capable of, as if we are the arbiters, much less the standard, of what God is capable of (1 John: 1-9).
Yet despite this guidance, we even put limits on our own ability to throw off the delusional limits we place on God! But Scripture once again reminds us that we can return to God once we have come to our senses and thrown off the ridiculous limits we ourselves place on Him (Gal 5:1).
Despite the clear and abundant evidence of just how limitless and wonderful our God truly is, we often insist on placing Him in our own envelope of what, when, why, how, and under what conditions. This contradiction is no different than the contradiction of sin which, at the end of the day, is simply placing limits on our own capacity to partake in God’s love, mercy, and capacity to create good in a world which needs as much good as possible.
We Limit God When . . .
We doubt that He can answer our pleas, confine the answers to our prayers to our own preferred answer to those prayers. Indeed, we doubt that He can take us to heights we never dreamed possible. Instead we insist on staying enslaved by sin, and ignore or deny God’s desire and capacity to make us saints. We limit God when we live, measure, and define how we view and respond to God by our feelings and subjective notions rather than by His Word and Christ’s example.
We also limit God when we rely on our own abilities and talents rather than embracing, appreciating, and even rejoicing in the knowledge that it is God who has given us those abilities and talents in the first place. And we limit God when we pretend that those gifts from God are meant to be used to satisfy only our own agenda rather than glorify God and bring good to this world.
Sadly, we also limit God when we forget that the path to sanctity lies in uniting our will to His and living only to please Him. We limit God when we do not trust Him.
Lastly, we limit God when we approach Him enforcing our own expectations, definitions, and attitudes about how to live, love, forgive, obey, and deal with suffering.
God’s Invitation and Christ’s Call
We need only to look at Christ’s example and message to realize that following Christ is all about pushing envelopes and thinking outside the box. We need only to reflect on the spirit behind God’s Commandments to see that following God’s Laws is about transcending legalism and letter of the law in the pursuit of appreciating, applying, and embracing living by the love of God to God and others.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, we face a daily fork in the road when it comes to how we will approach and apply God in our lives. Either we will wrap Him in our packaging and measure Him by our standards, or we will leave our ego at the door, step aside, and let God show and guide us to the wonderful possibilities within and through us to that are possible when we let God run things.
Placing God in a neat envelope of our preferences may be practical, convenient, and easier for each of us. However, by now we should have realized that following Christ is playing by God’s rules, not ours.
So, leave the envelopes and boxes for church donations and gifts. Let God be in your heart, soul, and mind, in the way He best sees fit to be. Approach God with a spirit of humble docility instead of consumerist presumption. Do not be like the clueless, obnoxious, and hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s day, telling the Master of Life, Love, and Eternity how to live, love, and determine the future.
Let us keep Christ out of our preconceived envelopes. And let us think outside the box on how to approach, adore, and apply Jesus in our lives.
