Jesus In a Box
“I will extol Thee, my God, O King; And I will bless Thy name forever and ever. Everyday I will bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Thy majesty, and on Thy wonderful works, I will meditate.” Psalm 145:1-5
When do you take down your Christmas tree and decorations? For many, it all comes down this week. We pack them all up and put Christmas back in the box until next year. The warm fuzzies fade, and the reality of the present glares at us come January 2nd when everything goes back to the “normal” routine — back to work and school, appointments and paying the bills.
I don’t like packing Christmas away for another year. But I also don’t like keeping Jesus as a baby or in a box.
Yes, there is something simple about the birth of Jesus. We think of the story of a sweet baby lying peacefully in a manger and it somehow feels safe and warm. Visualizing Him as helpless and small makes Him seem easy to control. I don’t need to deal with how big He really is, His greatness, majesty, and power.
Jesus doesn’t want to remain a baby in our lives, nor does He want to can He be put into a box. In the beginning of Luke 2, we see Him as the baby in a manger, but by the end of the chapter, we see He grew in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52). He was born full of grace and truth (John 1:14) and we can trust and follow Him in every circumstance of life. He came to be our Savior and He desires for all of us to see His majesty and awesome power, to fall to our knees and worship Him as our Savior and Lord. To put Jesus into a box would negate His grace that’s given to us freely, grace upon grace (John 1:16). To relegate Jesus to a box of our own choosing, (i.e. legalism or humanism) is like thinking we have life under our own control.
The past few years I’ve started keeping one Christmas decoration or ornament out of the box, and place it somewhere where I least expect it. It serves as a visual reminder to not put Jesus in a box but to see Him for Who He truly is, our Savior and Lord. This year, I’m keeping out one of my Moravian star ornaments to remind me of His splendor and majesty and His mighty works. It will also remind me to “shine like stars in the universe” before this sin-sick world. (Philippians 2:15)
As you’re undecorating this week, pause and reflect upon His majesty, power and mighty works. Reflect upon His grace upon grace in your life. Don’t put Jesus in a box.
Prayer:
Lord, I love the presents and the lights. I’m not looking forward to taking it all down, but I’m most grateful for You sending Your Son as the Light of the World. The simple, uncluttered way I decorated this year gently reminds me I don’t have to be all decked out in beautiful array to come before You; You are more concerned with what’s inside.
I don’t ever want to put You in a box. I pause right now and recognize you as my grown-up Savior and Lord, out of the feed box and on the throne of my heart. Please help me to always keep You there. May I continually mediate upon Your glorious splendor and wonderful works. In Jesus Name, Amen.
This idea of putting Jesus in a box after Christmas? It just blew my mind. I plan to pack away our Christmas cheer on Saturday. Be assured your thoughts will be filling my mind when I do, and I will be pondering how to let Jesus adorn my life for the rest of the year. What a blessing this was to me this morning.
Thank you, Dawn, for your kind words.
“Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the LORD.”
Powerful reminder to not put Jesus in a box after Christmas. I like how you will keep out the star to remind you to shine His light.
I like the idea of leaving some type of ornament out as a reminder to not have Jesus put away in a box. Very thought-provoking post.
Thank you, Iris and Wanda. His greatness could never be contained in a box – never.
Such a precious post sis, thank you.
God’s timing for me to read this devotional in this very year (2017) is so amazing! This is the first year not having family come home to celebrate Christmas, we will be celebrated at a resort instead on the 30th and 31st; therefore I hardly decorated this year! Your devotional reminded me that I don’t have to be all decked out to celebrate Jesus! Another very cool thing is that this particular year I had bought 48l little gift boxes for different games. After reading your devotional God placed upon my heart to allow the family to share an example of Gods grace upon grace and to give different examples of how they can keep Jesus out of the box. For each example they will stack a box on top of another box and see how high they can stack the boxes! We certainly have so many gifts that He continues to give us every day of the year! Thank you for allowing the gift of writing that God has given to you to be shared with all of us!! Becky, December 2017
WoW, Becky! Thank you for sharing what is going on in your life right now and how this devotional from 2011 has touched her heart in 2017! It’s can be difficult transitioning into a new place in life and a different way of doing things. I’m actually going through something similar myself this year. And what a neat idea with the 48 boxes. We do indeed have so much to be thankful for on a daily basis. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing and then His grace and upon grace overflows our hearts and lives with yet more. Merry Christmas, Becky! And again, thank you for stopping by and commenting.