God in a Box...Does He fit?

It is funny how our culture influences us as Christians, even when the influence is counter to what is true about Jesus and our relationship with Him. Our culture tries to tell us that if we separate everything we will be more organized, structured and more efficient with work, family and life as a whole. This also includes our faith in Christ—so that is what we have done. God is now in His own compartment along with everything else that we attempt to balance and manage each day. But God can’t be put into a box only to be confined within its corners and that is what I have been challenged with these past few months. God is bigger than we could ever imagine, so allow Him to be integrated within every aspect of your lives—not just one’s faith/spiritual compartment.
Yesterday I was talking with Ryan about this subject and he has been struggling with this idea for the past few months. He said, “it is hard for me to rely on God in areas of my life where I am gifted. When times get tough I usually just try harder and push through it. God usually isn’t on my mind, I just focus on myself and work harder.” That sediment is ‘normal’ in our culture, just work harder and YOU can do it, think positively and YOU will accomplish great things. God isn’t even in the picture let alone thought of during the process. It is difficult to allow God to take control over every part of our lives and as we wrestle through life and what this looks like, we all tend to fight back.
Alex shared with me a about a month ago how he views God and sports and has realized that most, if not all, of his life he has never allowed God into his athletic life. While playing sports year round, that time of his day has been his and he was motivated by family, friends and his coaches—but God was never there until recently. About a week later Alex and I were talking about how God needs to be integrated within football and his competition. Alex said that for the first time in his life he was free to compete to glorify and worship God with his abilities. He has always been concerned about what his coaches and teammates thought about his performance and not until this spring has been able to compete and play without worrying about there opinions. He said, all he was concerned with was how God viewed him and his performance athletically and that perspective has freed him up to play at a higher level.
He and I talked through that God's love and view of us never changes based on our performance. Our favor with the coach, playing time, how the fans view us can change and does all the time; but our God in heaven's perspective of who we are never ebbs and flows with the coming tide. It stays constant, which allows us as athletes to compete in the same manner-consistently at our highest level.