Faith isn’t meant to be kept in a box

I came home this week to find my wife watching a cake baking competition on TV. Each team was to make one of the iconic Star Wars space ships out of cake and each ship was about 7 feet long. The attention to detail was amazing. Imagine my surprise when I found out no one will eat these cakes, they aren’t really edible, they are just pretty to look at.

My favorite toys as a child were my Star Wars action figures. I played with them for hours each day — on the stairs, in the dirt and in the bathtub! (Needless to say, the “good guys” always won.)

While I was saving money to buy another action figure to play with, many people were doing something similar but very different. They were saving money and purchasing action figures, but they had no intent of ever playing with them. In fact, they were never even going to open the box!

For me, the toy opened a world of fun and life and active entertainment. For them, the toy was an investment in shelf-sitting, inactivity and nothingness. The action figure stayed safe in the bubble of plastic and cardboard. The collectors would tell themselves, “Someday this will really be worth something.”

Christians can be that way. We go to church to follow Jesus, separating ourselves from the world. Grant it, we don’t get dirty and we don’t get worn out. However, it is possible to miss out on the “abundant life” Jesus said He came to bring us (John 10:10). We assume “that life” is reserved for “someday” when our Christianity “will really be worth something.”

Well, one good thing God has done through COVID-19 … He’s opened the box! Christians can’t stay inside the box, safely waiting until the day our value is revealed at Christ’s return. We are forced to live in the mess of our neighborhoods and offices, in the dirt and hand sanitizer of real life.

Perhaps this is what we were made for? Not some heaven to which we are waiting to be whisked away, but a heaven we are supposed to bring to earth, right where we live! This is the time for the community and the world to see the grace and compassion of the Church. To reach out and help those in need, to give rides, to deliver groceries, to be compassionate, and leave people with a sense of hope and grace (not doom and gloom) when they encounter us. This is the time to get off the shelf and show the world God’s grace by being His hands and feet at work.

My recommendation? Let the grandkids play with the Beanie Babies.

Chad Wilks is the lead pastor at Sandpoint Church of the Nazarene, which can be found online at sandpointnaz.org