Boxed Up or Set Free?

We had been renovating for years. Know the feeling? Nothing felt finished, everything looked half done, and didn't feel particularly organised. Worst of all, for someone who loves interior decorating and had been collecting decorative pieces for years, I felt like I couldn't put on display all of the beautiful finishing touches I had gathered.

One day, I was ironing in what had become our storage room, and I looked around longingly at the boxes stored against the wall. I knew from the shapes and sizes of the boxes what was stored inside each box, which hadn't been unpacked or used. In some boxes were beautiful prints I had gathered to adorn our walls. In other boxes were cushions for the lounges, metal and wire plates for the walls, a carved timber ornate wall hanging, and so on. I knew what was inside of those boxes was absolutely beautiful! I had planned for them, I had researched for them, I had saved up for them, and I had purchased them. Yet here they were in my home, but they weren't on display, as they were created to be. They had been paid for, but they were covered, boxed up, hidden and unseen!

You see, I had the idea that I couldn't put my wares out on display until everything was perfect. Until the walls were painted and the floor coverings were laid, and I had a new lounge and... so on and so forth. Yet time had passed, these things had not yet been completed... and I was starting to feel a bit hopeless. The bare walls and empty lounge room was staring at me every time I walked through it, and each day that passed, I felt a little more deflated. Yet I still couldn't bring myself to display them, because I was worried that if I put my beautiful things out when the surroundings weren't looking equally beautiful, I'd tarnish their beauty. I thought that the room would negatively detract from the beauty of the decorative items, and so I waited, looking towards the time when everything would be 'perfect'.

On this day, as I was longingly looking over the boxes in the room, I realised that we are so much like these boxes! God has planned for us. He determined what would make each one of us beautiful, and He put us together with His Divine design in mind. He then sent His Son as a payment for us. And just as I received those boxes containing beautiful items into my home, God received us as precious treasure into His Kingdom. But God never intended for us to stay in our boxes. He never intended for us to remain covered and hidden and closed up and boxed in.

In fact, to God, each one of us is a treasure chest of beauty and glory, just waiting to be unlocked or unwrapped! And when we stay hidden, not only are we not displaying the beauty He is putting within us, but we are not adorning the rooms we've been called to. And we're not bringing the hope He planned for us to bring.

When I realised this, I started unpacking the boxes and adorning the lounge room! Though I'd thought everything had to be perfect, and that the room would negatively detract from the beauty of the decorative items, I soon discovered that the decorative items brought beauty to the room! And not only beauty, but hope. What had felt like it would never happen (the renovation of our home), started to to feel like it was inevitable. And everyone who came to our home, commented on how beautiful the room was, even though nothing else had changed!

We are designed to shine! We are created to change atmospheres, to go into dark places and to bring hope. And we're not to wait until we think we're perfect or the circumstances are perfect. We carry glory and anointing today! We can be put on display today! It may take a little time to figure out exactly where and how we're meant to be displayed, but our Master designer will show us and we will light up the dull and dark places - in our homes, in our families, in our communities and in our nations.

Don't stay boxed up today, believing the limiting lies of the enemy who wants to keep you hidden and snared. The God of the Universe wants to put you on display. Dare to look inside the box you have been living in, and ask Him to show you what's inside. Then allow Him to choose the room, and the arrangement. You'll discover He knows exactly what He's doing, and you will love where He places you.