"Jesus in our Box??"

I've had the chance to spend a little time in line at the postal counter in my supermarket. I'm a "people watcher" by nature so I've had "fun" looking at the variety of packages people carry to the counter. Every size and shape to be mailed off to distant friends and relatives.

I noticed more than one customer who had so over stuffed their mailing boxes that they were bulged and bursting at the seams. I could only hope that the packing tape would hold until they reached their appointed destinations.

I got to thinking that this is the same way that people in Jesus time handled Jesus. They had "boxes" of specific shapes and sizes into which they were trying to "fit" the Messiah. They had "boxes" of particular configurations into which they tired to fit Jesus. "Messiah" didn't "fit." Jesus didn't "fit." Jesus was not a king, but an infant born out of wedlock. He came from a simple family to the back woods areas of Galilee. He hung out with the "lower class" and spent his time rubbing elbows with "sinners." For those who didn't believe, Jesus just didn't fit their definition, their "box."

I'm sorry to say that we, in 2011, are no different. We have our own expectations of Jesus (and of God). We expect prayers to be answered, to be comfortable and secure, to be "successful" and to have a certain kind of life. We expect God to be there when we "need" God, but we are not bothered by ignoring God at other times in our lives, times when the blessings are flowing beyond our need. When God doesn't "fit" out box, our expectations or our image, we are quick to doubt -- to doubt God and God's presence, power and providing in our lives.

Jesus started out His life in a manner that says God doesn't fit our expectations. God won't fit into our "boxes." Jesus came to help us know that outside the box, bigger than our expectations and in ways we can never imagine, God leads us to life and salvation. God fills every promise. God splits the seams of expectations to bring forgiveness, renewal and redemption.

In these waning days of Advent watching, God is appearing. Be ready. Have your eyes open. Expect God in new ways in your life, in your heart.