Box Syndrome

1 Kings 2:4 - so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.

Not too terribly long after this Babylon took over and the Israelites lived in exile for a very long time.

I kept looking at this verse thinking, "If only Israel hadn't messed up...if only they had followed these simple instructions..."  

Maybe we would still be under Israel's reign - a wonderfully united nation of God...

But someone else would have messed up.  I guess it was probably inevitable.

The thing is...why is it so hard??  Those instructions seem pretty simple.  

• Be careful of your way
• Walk before God in truth
• With all your heart and with all your soul

I think it's that "all" that gets us.  I think we all truly want to give God our heart and soul...but only parts, not all, I meant that's just a little bit excessive don't you think??

Justin and I had a long talk on our way home from Michigan yesterday about how people can separate their faith from politics.  For us, that is an impossibility.  I will not vote for a man who literally covers up crosses in any area that he is speaking.  I cannot do so in regards to my faith.  But for others, the two are completely separate things.  I referred to it as "Box Syndrome" - they have each section of their lives perfectly boxed up and labeled.  One for "Faith," one for "Politics," "Friends," "Family", "Recreation/Hobbies," "Business," etc.  Not one box invades another...everything is separate.  And if you are living with "Box Syndrome" then I suppose the only box God gets is the "Faith" box.  Does that sound like God is getting ALL of our heart and soul???  I don't think so.  Our "Faith" should be the box the encompasses all other boxes.  We shouldn't be able to access any of the other boxes without first having to open our "Faith" box.

So here's to not taking the easy way out - gather up all of those boxes today and put them in one collective box - the "Faith" box.  Give God ALL of your heart and soul today...see how much it will truly change and shape your life!  (For the good of course!)