I want to talk a little more about boxes. For a while now I’ve been on this sort of quest towards freedom—towards a different way of thinking that will transform the way I act and live. To get there, all the boxes that have been constructed in my paradigm must be destroyed. So I’ve been asking God to identify them because to be frank, I’m just tired of limitations when I know there’s another option.

I believe that it is critical to be honest with ourselves, even if the fear creeps in that admitting something will be controversial somehow. But seriously, when freedom is on the line, who cares anymore? We have to let go of this need to please everyone around us, because in doing so we’re holding ourselves back from our true potential and limiting the life we could be living. The first step to freedom is honesty. Honesty then segues into having courage to remove the masks that hide who we really are. Then we can be real with ourselves and with other people. Then we will have the strength to step out of every box we’ve allowed to contain us.

With this process in mind, I want to share a realization I came to recently. Boxes and limitations are not always constructed of what we would consider “bad” things. In fact, more often than not, their walls are made of good things; and if you think about it, this makes a world of sense. Because what is one of our enemy’s favorite methods to lead us astray and keep us in bondage? Deception. Twisting the truth. Disguising a lie or a chain by dressing it up in something that appears so good we won’t even think to question it.

Sometimes, especially as church-goers, we allow good teaching and even truth to become the boxes around us. Without realizing it, as we learn and accept things we’re being taught, we begin to build these homes made up of the truths and beliefs we are comfortable with. As more is added, we use it to decorate inside, creating quite a stunning setting to live in; and yet with all this beauty around us, we fail to look outside. We are too comfortable. We feel safe. We feel okay. Why would we ever need to step beyond our carefully constructed home that gives us a sense of identity and promises to keep us where we need to be for the rest of our lives?

Let me pose a question. Since when was the Kingdom of God considered safe? Now, I am not against good teaching. I am not against church. I am most certainly not opposed to the truth or the Word of God. But what gets me is how easy it is to give these things the place of prominence before a relationship with God Himself. How cunning our enemy is. And yet, if we will allow God to expose this scheme of his, its power will become null. That is why I feel I must write about this.

As believers, many of us think we know a lot, especially if we grew up in the church. This may very well be true. But knowledge is limiting. Knowledge is comfortable. What we must embrace is that there is more. There is this realm in God that doesn’t really make sense but that contains so much power that when encountered we won’t even know how to respond. A power and a love so deep and true that it renders us speechless.

When was the last time you experienced this raw power?

Perhaps it’s time to peer beyond the walls of our “truth boxes” in order to get a new angle. What if you are actually blind except for one little spot that shows you what you perceive your reality to be? What if your vision was expanded so that you realize you don’t really know much at all? But you’re okay with that, because there is this exhilarating freedom just waiting on the horizon of your heart. Just waiting for you to let go and let God take you into the depths of His affection for you so that you can live in a freedom that is not reserved for Heaven but was always intended for Earth.

Without relationship, I don’t think it’s possible to really know anything, in the deepest sense of the word “know.” I want to make relationship with Jesus first, and let Him lead me into all truth. I don’t want a box or a home to define me—rather I wanted to be solely identified as a child of God. It’s the only way to be free. Who’s with me?