Stuffing people in corrugated boxes and climbing up on them

EXHORTATION

PIGEON HOLES AND BOXES.... A friend of mine mentioned to me how sometimes others can put us in a box of their assessment of us and then keep us there. I think I agree with him, sometimes that does happen.

Do you feel like this has ever happened to you? Someone else sized you up entirely to quickly without even really getting to know you? Most of us have probably felt this way at one time or another. And why, why do we do this?

I think we do this because we want to make things easier for ourselves and our egos. If we can put someone in a box as it were, or in a nice compartmentalized pigeon hole, then it gives our sense of mind a nice tidy way to manage people. It's just too much work and energy in sizing up folks to allow for little mysteries and questions of other's character to let dangle around in our minds. It's too messy that way. And we don't like not being able to figure someone out. (Of course it doesn't help if we don't allow people to get to know us by keeping others guessing with riddles.) but we'll get to that in a second.

For now, can I encourage us to not feel the need to one-up each other? To stack up all the people that we have put in nice 4x4x4 boxes so that we can in turn climb up over everyone to be "King of the Hill." We desire to do this because we make up for what lacks in our own discipline by pushing the other down and exalting our superiority over them. "Yeah, she's pretty, but I'm taller." "Okay, he makes more money than I do, but let's face it, I'm more intelligent." "Alright, alright, (our mind tells us) he's a better athlete than I, but I know the intricacies of what is really cool." "She's better than me at sewing, but I could do that too, if I wanted to, I just don't." We search for excuses to justify ourselves better... "My intellect is sharper, I'm more beautiful, I'm more creative, at least I don't do THAT! and that is why I am a little better than him, a little better than her. Only in Christ of course....." Right....... isn't that how it goes my brothers and sisters?

Instead, what needs to happen, is we need to take that evil competition and boasting and put that in a box! Don't be selfish and make others have to do complex character riddles to know you. We want others to seek us out like lost treasure, but we aren't as willing to seek after others.

Brothers and sisters, do not do this. Replace the desire to position yourself more righteous with the greater desire to be humbled by one another and to be each other's best supporters, your neighbor's best fan. Stick up for one another, give the benefit of the doubt because the people around you this morning are YOUR people,

This is one clear way we can increase in love for one another more and more, as Paul says in I Thess. 3:12

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins,