Living outside the box

“If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?” – Chuck Palahniuk

An infinite number of introductions begin with a simple gesture and a polite, “What do you do? The simplicity ends the moment the answer becomes difficult. Many times the innocence of context can be changed by an awkward fumbling of confusion between who we are by character and the dictation of who we are by vocation. Yet we respond, I’m an attorney, a street sweeper, a salesperson or whatever job might fit the blank; and thus get categorized within the box. The box is what causes us to play social modalism when our real answer isn’t quite up to what our public pride can handle. Within the current times, many people are struggling with the introductions of who they are in the public’s eyes. With an increasing rate of unemployment and a lack of confidence of what aides one’s conception of self; it seems that millions are searching for answers to questions about who they are without the particular criteria of their 9 to5 tasks. People are waking up and wishing their reality was different, and in some cases, mutating reality to find out who they are and who they are not.

I live in the DC Metro area where people are constantly trying to categorize your existence, your beliefs, your voting agenda and your perspective by one major factor: What do you do for work? It can be a difficult obstacle course of exaggerations and past accolade with many who face the feared questions of introductions and contextualization while they are out of work. Whether wrestling with the pride of feeling unjustly unemployed, the anger of returned shunning for years of dedicated service, the doubts of marketability, or the low self esteem of a multiple of rejections or extended inquiries without response; the reality of those who face this issue daily is discouraging and demoralizing. In a world with high demands, high stress, uncertainty and a lack of confidence or stability, what can possibly disrupt the distractions and infuse peace into our daily existence. Kierkegaard once said, “The press of busyness is like a charm, its power swells… it reaches out, seeking always to lay hold of ever younger victims so that childhood or youth are scarcely allowed the quiet and the retirement in which the Eternal may unfold a divine growth.” And from youth to old, many of us in this world are feeling the swell of busyness and anxiety, culminating in filling our introductions with “what we do’s” and losing the sense of “who we are.” We all understand the pressures of demands, fears and, at times, just how we are going to get through the week. Moments of stress pile up to the point of explosion. We feel broken down, weary, and bare; toying with the resignation to overwhelming situations. We come face to face with our true powerlessness in the world and wonder how to get by. Fortunately for us, we are truly not alone amidst our circumstances. It is in these broken moments where we acknowledge the dependent need for help, that we hear the quiet calling of the Spirit of God. The Lord who does not despise a broken and contrite heart, (Psalm 51) is longing to draw us near in these moments. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” This is the Lord who knows us as we truly are, and even in the middle of your pain, is calling you to depend on Him. He knows the depths of our hearts and has sent his Son and his Spirit to comfort us in our hours of need.

It can truly be a confusing and worrisome time when we come face to face with circumstances out of our control. This happens every day, every month or every year within every person’s lifetime. No matter the response, no person has immutable control over their lives and in all avenues of their circumstances. We are all dependent by nature. We have been made this way by God. The Lord’s intent in his creation was not to form individuals who are the masters of their own destiny. The lord’s longing for us is to recognize our dependence in light of his love and provision. Reliance on Him is the only path to peace or avenue for security anyone can ever find. This is the peace which penetrates the core of us, and security in the only all-powerful being. This is peace that surpasses all understanding, and security in Him who formed the world we live in. This is the peace which has calm amidst the storms, security in unmerited love and is only that which the Savior, Jesus Christ can provide. The bible says in 1 Peter, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” and in Exodus, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Cast your cares upon Him; for He will give you rest because He loves you.

The Lord’s call to dependence on Him is not an idealistic mental adventure to replace reality with idioms or rituals. It is not a camp experience of momentary elation. It is a calling to put away the old self and become the new creation of one connected to the heart of the Father. It truly is a love song from a Savior who is calling our hearts to depend on the substance of the Lord of Lords over tangible reassurances of misplaced security. Christ said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”(Matthew 6)

There is freedom from the pressures of controlling circumstances in the Lord. There is liberty in depending on the Almighty. There is hope in knowing that we are his. There is a pivotal piece of understanding in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which refocuses our identity, “We are of Christ, and He is of the Father.” This is not the platitude of factual existence in becoming a follower of Christ or a self-centered focus of spirituality in light of the God of the universe; this is the connection of power to the Almighty within the new creation. This is the peace and security of freedom in living outside of the boxes of categorized living. Our concept of ourselves must be our identity in Christ and of the Father; radically loved and sustained by the Lord of Hosts. When we truly know our character in light of Him, our confidence swells. Our assurance is secure in Him and in who we are in Him. This certainty doesn’t inspire moments of self-realization or personal reassessment; this is a realization of God. This is a realization of intimate connection to the Almighty God. This is the discovery of his Spirit at the core of who we are. We are no longer ourselves, but are the new creation which Christ lives in. We are his adopted sons and daughters. We are invited to a life outside the box of localized association. We are of Christ and He is of the Father. No longer are we republicans or democrats, accountants or artists, poets or powerbrokers, jobless or heads of industry; we are the community of faithful children of God Most High. No longer are we crafty industrialists, preserving our significance; we are the bearers of love who are called to show what we have received from Christ to others. No longer are we the tab keepers of all the importance of busyness; we are those who are still, knowing confidently that He is God. We are no longer the worriers of anxious agony; we are those who know that we are cared for by the Lord – who makes all ends meet, to the good of his purpose. Let us wake up in this place and be a new creation infused with the love our God has given us. Let us trust Him to meet our needs, whatever they are, and rest in his provision. Let us faithfully seek him amidst our doubts and fears. Let us cast our cares and our dependence upon the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, Sovereign Lord. We will know freedom in Him alone. We will know the blessings of his control amidst seemingly chaotic circumstances. We will know ourselves by who we truly are: We are his children. And, we will know that He is the Lord of all, mighty in word and deed, abounding in love and faithful to his children of all generations.