The Cardboard Box Life

Most people know that I'm not right in the head sometimes. I think about the weirdest of things in great detail. I was given the opportunity of preaching my first ever sermon last Sunday, the 23rd November, in my new church.. Christ Church Lisburn. When told that I was to preach.. I got a picture of a cardboard box. Just an ordinary cardboard box.

What if I said to you that your faith is like a cardboard box?

Look at a cardboard box for a second...

A cardboard box, like everything, has a purpose. A purpose that it was designed to do. It's purpose was to "hold or store" things. Whether, that's clothes, ornaments, toys or books, it doesn't matter.. it's purpose was always to hold and keep together those things you wanted to keep.

What if the cardboard box lays empty? Not a speck of dust in it? It turns out to be like everything other empty cardboard box.. a useless object that clutters up your house.

A cardboard box has it's own purpose and identity. It's identity is in it's contents. If it holds shoes.. it's a shoe box.. if it holds matches, it's a matchbox.

An empty cardboard box loses its purpose and identity when it remains empty.

Lets look now at your faith..

Your faith has a purpose. Again, a purpose it's designed to do. It's purpose to l

ove God and love others. It a very general view on the purpose of one's faith but everyone is made differently and have different purposes in a wider context but we must love God, and love others. But what if your faith loses it purpose? Loses it's identity of being a lover of God and people?

An faith loses its purpose and identity.. it's empty.

Colossians Two Verse Seven says this;

"Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in truth you were taught."

I want to put that in other words, remember the cardboard box..

"Let your cardboard box be filled with him, and let your cardboard box ha

ve it's purpose. Then your box will have it's identity in it's purpose."

What's is in your cardboard box?

Your Bible? Worship music? A list of your friends?

No?

Maybe your more interested in putting in things that crowd your box. Things like your job, music, going out or maybe just YOU? Have you put yourself in the box? Leaving no room for God? No more for "the roots" to grow?

I was looking at the fruits of the Spirit and I believe whenever you put something in, you get something out.

Galatians Five Verses Twenty Two and Twenty Three say this;

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruits in our lives [our cardboard boxes]: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Are these things coming out of your life? Out of your faith? Out of your cardboard?

If not, what's in your cardboard box? Most likely things that don't need to be there. Don't need to be cluttering up your life. Things that need thrown up instead of storing them up for future use.

How about replacing the things in our cardboard boxes that hold us back from producing the fruits of the spirt and, instead replacing it with the things of God that we want to keep and use in our life?

I believe our lives need a big massive FRAGILE sticker stuck on them. HANDLE WITH CARE in big bold letters.

Our faith is too precious for us to just put whatever we want in it. Put the good things in, you can take the good things out in the future and use them again but put the bad things in and you'll end up producing the bad things.

What's your cardboard box like today?