Jesus in a Box

A couple of years ago, Tony Morgan posted the following on his blog:

We’ve been praying for this moment for quite some time. Emily found Jesus this morning. She was a seeker. She knew there was something missing in her life. And, fortunately, she found Him.

Turns out, he was under the family room couch the entire time. In the process of preparing for our move, we are having the carpets cleaned this morning. When we pulled the couch out of the family room, there He was. You see, we’ve been missing the little, rubber, infant Jesus that goes with the kids’ nativity set. We thought we left Him in Florida. Turns out He was under the couch the entire time.

In case you’re wondering, Jesus is now in the storage area with the rest of our Christmas items. He’ll be boxed up and shipped to South Carolina. There’s an illustration somewhere in this about putting Jesus in a box. For now, though, I’m just grateful to know Emily found Him.

And then, for his book Killing Cockroaches, he took that post & expanded it a bit:

There's a bit of irony in that statement, isn't there? Jesus in a box. I think sometimes we tend to do that with the real Jesus as well. Think about it:

• Doesn't it seem like a lot of us live out our faith as though Jesus only exists in a building we visit on Sunday?
• Do you get the sense we sometimes like to worship our rules & practices more than God himself?
• Have we moved to a place where we think people will only accept Christ through a three-point message, a reflective song, and an invitation from the pastor?
• Have we lost how big God is by thinking he can't use talking donkeys and the bellies of a fish and burning bushes to get our attention today?

It's one thing when we put the little, rubber, nativity Jesus in a box. It's a completely different thing when we put the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe in a box. We sometimes tend to do that.

I wonder what life & ministry would look like if we removed the box. More importantly, I wonder what miracles we've missed because we didn't realize Jesus has never been in the box.

I'm glad Emily found Jesus.

I'm glad Tony wrote that post. And the book.