Hey, isn’t that Mary and Joe’s boy? I went to school with his brothers. Who is he to be sitting around pontificating? Who does he think he is to teach in the synagogue with such authority? Where did he learn to speak like that? He is just a carpenter’s son. Let him go build something.
And with a thought, they put Jesus in a box. They put limitations on God. Jesus, should have been the “Home Town Hero,” but instead His unwillingness to fit comfortably into a box, made Him an offense. He could not do many miracles in their midst.
As I was reading this morning, I thought, “How often do we put people in a box?” We place expectations on them based upon appearance, birth place, education, family history and box them up.
As we see in Jesus’ cases, boxes are powerful. They are limiting. Restrictive. They quench dreams and aspirations. They limit the power of God flowing from us and to us.
Have you allowed life to put you in a box? Have you ever thought, “I could never do that because of my past? My race? My education? My family history? BOX! Dare to believe you are more than your past, unlimited by ethnicity, unstopped by a degree. You have a living God within you. He calls us out of our boxes. He empowers us to dream beyond our box. He anoints us to break free and live unboxed.
Friends, don’t allow your self-imposed boxes or the boxes other people may have put you in, to define you. Dream beyond your pay grade. Imagine a life unboxed. Go and live a life beyond your wildest imagination. It may offend some. Some may reject you. But just remember, Jesus is cheering you on as you get unboxed.
“Isn’t he just the wood-worker’s son? Isn’t his mother named Mary, and his four brothers Jacob, Joseph, Simon, and Judah? And don’t his sisters all live here in Nazareth? How did he get all this revelation and power?” And the people became offended and began to turn against him. Jesus said, “There’s only one place a prophet isn’t honored—his own hometown!” And their great unbelief kept him from doing any mighty miracles in Nazareth.”
Matthew 13:55-58 TPT