Think Outside The Box

When I was younger, I used to think that Boxing Day was so called because there must have been a big boxing match on somewhere. As I got older, I began to think it must have got its name from the fact that people box up their Christmas gifts on this day.

However, it seems both are wrong. Boxing Day apparently got its name from the fact that servants were traditionally given a box of gifts after the rest of the family had celebrated Christmas. In recent years, the meaning seems to have changed again to signal the day that people box up their gifts to return them to the shops in search of something better.

I think we can be in danger of 'boxing' Jesus up too, on Boxing Day. We remember His birth in the run-up to Christmas and on Christmas Day itself, but after that, how quickly do we pack Him away again until next year? How quickly do we seek to exchange Him for something else?

But Jesus didn't just come to change one day. He didn't just come so that one day of our lives would be better with food and drink and presents and a day off work. He came to change our whole lives: to change the way we see ourselves and God and to bring us back to our Father in heaven.

Jesus said,

"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me."

[John 15:4 MSG]

I wrote earlier in the week about Jesus coming, not just for a visit, but to live with us - to move in. In the same way, He invites us to live in Him, to make ourselves at home in His love.

To paraphrase a popular RSPCA advert, "Jesus is for life, not just for Christmas."

Instead of neatly packing Jesus away until the start of Advent next year, let's remind ourselves of why He came and make ourselves comfortable and at home in Him.

Let's consider what life might be like if we didn't pack Him away in a neat box, but invited Him deeper into our lives.

Let's think outside the box.