In a book (The Purse-Driven Life by Anita Renfroe [a comedian]) given to Joyce,
Renfroe discussed growth as changing boxes. “If people’s expectations of us put
us ‘in a box,’ it seems to me that we spend a good deal of our time on earth
just swapping boxes. We get some knowledge in one area of our life and realize
we have been enslaved to an idea or expectation. We leave that mindset, only to
find that we miss the structure the box afforded us, so we find another one to
climb into. We say we don’t like them, but we keep climbing in” (pp. 44, 45).
Spiritual growth accurately can be compared to outgrowing boxes. While my
graduate degree is in Bible, my college undergraduate degree is in chemistry
(long story). I remember spending a lot of time learning a view of an atom, only
later to be told the view must expand. That happened over and over as we moved
to bigger boxes!
A time in life was when parents had the answers, then when a gifted Sunday
school teacher had the answers, when a beloved preacher had the answers, when an
insightful professor had the answers, or when a movement had the answers.
Parents had some of the answers—as did Sunday school teachers, preachers,
professors, movements, etc.
Why only some answers? As we grow, have new experiences, and age, we discover
dimensions of questions that were unknown to us. You provide yourself insight.
Was any spiritual question “the same” at age 15 as it was at age 8? Or at age 25
compared to age 15? Or at age 40 compared to age 25? Or at age 65 compared to
age 40?
Do you realize how much you have grown? There was the “all black and white with
no gray” age; the “black, white, and a little gray” age; the “black, white, and
expanding gray” age; and the age when wisdom confessed “I don’t know”—which was
completely unacceptable in the “all black and white” age. Pick your
subject—child rearing, godly marriage, unity, love, forgiveness, holiness,
Christian service—and watch scripture cause godly people to grow into the
Lordship of Jesus Christ and God’s character and purposes. A 15-year-old will
conclude things that cause a 40-year-old to shake his or her head because the
15-year-old has not even seen all the question.
A “think about” question: was God with you in your small box? When your growth
demanded a bigger box, did God go with you? Was He in the bigger box ahead of
you? Can you put God in a box, or is God bigger than all boxes?
Do you understand that healthy congregations are made of people who do not fear
spiritual growth? Never stagnate where you are! Never stop growing closer to
God!
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Link to other Writings of David Chadwell