The Freedom Of Limitation – Living Inside God's BoxSample

Even Jesus Had A Box – The Place Box

“Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” (Luke 2:51)

In the relatively small world that Jesus lived in, Nazareth wasn’t even on the map – a measure of its insignificance. Jesus spent most of His life in a village of less than 300 people, far from the trade routes, tucked away deep in a valley. It was an unfashionable place in an undistinguished region. Jesus lived in a nowhere sort of place! The big schools, the great opportunities, the important people – they were all down south in the City. But Jesus spent the vast majority of His extraordinary life tucked away in the village that time forgot!

Dr Luke makes it abundantly clear (the only Gospel writer to do so), that Jesus didn’t waste His time while in this place-box. Not only are we told that He lived “under the orders” of His parents, but also that He engaged with His world and made the most of the apparent lack of opportunity. We are told that Jesus, “… grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Jesus grew intentionally, deliberately, on purpose, and with purpose in mind. He didn’t sit in the corner and sulk, having been taken from His moment in the spotlight at Jerusalem, when the eyes of scribes and scholars were on Him. Rather, He obeyed, He served, He engaged, He contributed, and most of all He grew. In those 18 years of silence up until His baptism at the age of 30, Jesus excelled in the ordinary, He embraced responsibility, and He grew deliberately. Jesus made the most of the place-box in which He found Himself.

Too many lament their place-box, not liking the limitations of where we find ourselves and kicking against them. But while we’re lamenting, we’re missing the opportunity for living. The more we long to get away, the less we live well where we are. If we keep saying that God can’t work where we are, in our place-box, then the chances are He won’t! Viewed one way, Jesus drew the short straw when He ended up in Nazareth – but where He was placed didn’t phase Him. It didn’t distract Him from His purpose or restrict His growth. For approximately 30 years He lived successfully in the confines of His place-box and so can we!