I recently heard a pretty powerful analogy, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Calling it powerful may surprise you once I share with you that it’s about a chest of drawers, but bear with me. And again, it’s one I heard from someone else, so don’t give me credit for it. It goes something like this:
Imagine your identity as a chest of drawers — something like the ones pictured below. Each drawer in the chest represents a different area of your life, personality, or “self.” So for instance, one drawer might be labeled Family. Another might be labeled Work. Some others might be Hobbies, Interests, Aspirations, Friends, Community Involvement. You get the picture.
And perhaps there’s one that’s labeled Faith or Religion or Beliefs — pick the term you like best. Think about how big this drawer is. Pretty big? Lots of space and things inside? Now consider where you’d put that drawer. Have a place in mind? How do you feel about it? Is it where you want it to be? What’s it next to?
Now let me ask you this. If your faith is one of the “drawers” in your life, then what, may I ask, is the chest that’s holding all of them together?
You might be thinking, Well, that’s not fair. You didn’t tell me that making it the chest was an option. No, I didn’t. But did you consider it? Were you uncomfortable making your faith one of the drawers? If so, great! But I, for one, wasn’t uncomfortable with it.
You see, what made this so powerful for me was that I realized that I naturally tend to treat my faith like just another drawer in my life. Now, I would tell you that it’s the biggest drawer; that none of the other drawers even compares in size. And it’s right at the top and center of the chest, easily accessible and above all of the other drawers. And my faith drawer is almost always open, ready for me to pull out of it what I want or need. It is certainly the most important drawer in the chest.
But throughout that whole exercise, I never once considered that my faith could be the chest itself. The chest was just…me. My self. Brianna. It was some abstract idea of my identity and who I am as a human being. My identity was just me.
Me…holding all of those drawers, and relegating my faith to one of them, thinking that if I give it the biggest and most prominent space, that will be enough. But this is not the kind of faith we are called to. Our faith isn’t meant to be a part of us — it’s meant to be who we are. It’s not meant to be a part of our identity — it’s meant to be our identity. It’s meant to be the thing by which every other piece of our lives is held and supported. It’s meant to be the chest.
And the other thing I realized? Even though I initially thought of the chest as just being an abstract idea of my identity, I don’t really think that’s possible. What I mean by that is that I think there is usually something, at any given moment in our lives, that we allow — or choose — to become the chest. And if that something is not our faith at all times, then that something is in the wrong spot. It’s something that is supposed to be a drawer.
And so the question becomes, is there something else in my life that I’m allowing to be the chest? This isn’t necessarily something that I’m abandoning my faith over. No, I’m simply holding so tightly to this part of my identity that I must relegate my faith to a drawer that fits within its context.
Now, brace yourself. Because I’m about to step on a lot of people’s toes, my own included. But I’m a firm believer in the idea that we could all use a little pressure on our toes every now and then. It’s good for us. It’s not something to be offended by — it’s just something to consider, at the very least. So, here it goes.
Have I allowed my career to become the chest and forced my faith into a drawer that must fit within its context?
Have I allowed my dreams and aspirations to become the chest that my faith must fit into?
What about my hobbies?
How about my family?
How about my marriage?
Or what about the kind of music I like to listen to?
Or the kinds of shows and movies I watch?
My spending habits and financial plan?
My political affiliation?
My opinions or stances on COVID-19?
My feelings and opinions about race relations?
My identity and rights as a citizen of the United States of America?
Do I ever allow these things to become the chest and relegate my faith to a drawer that must fit within their context?
And a lot of times, these things aren’t necessarily bad in and of themselves. It’s okay to enjoy your career. It’s okay to have aspirations and interests. It’s very okay to love your family and to love your spouse. It’s okay to enjoy entertainment. It’s okay to spend your money wisely. It’s okay to prefer one particular political party over another, and (now I’ll really step on some toes) it’s okay for your brother or sister in Christ to prefer the other one. It’s okay to have an opinion on how we should handle COVID-19 or what we should do about the growing racial divide. And it’s okay to be proud and grateful to be an American and to be able to enjoy the freedoms that we have.
It’s okay…as long as those things remain drawers and as long as they are only held and acted upon within the context of how we are called to live out our faith.
Our faith should define our entire identity and inform what we do and what we say in every area of our life, in every moment, in every space. No exceptions — none. Not in the conference room at work, not in the gossip circle with other moms, not in the heated discussions with family, not in the political debate with a friend (or a stranger, or an “enemy”), not in the way we talk to someone who looks or thinks differently than we do, not in the comments section on Facebook, not in the emails we send to our public officials. What we do and say in these areas must bow to how God has called us to live as His representatives and as His children here on earth. Period.
And I know we’re human. I know we’re not perfect and we fall short and make mistakes. And there’s grace for that. Lord knows I’ve needed it. But if we don’t start paying attention to this, if we don’t earnestly ask the Lord to give us eyes to recognize when we’ve made something else the chest, then who in the world are we? And what are we doing here?
Because at the end of the day, whatever we have chosen to be the chest ends up being what the world sees when they look at our actions and our words. So what do we want them to see?
There’s a correct answer to that question, for the church. We should want them to see Christ at work within us and through us. And if they see us getting more passionate about our money, or sports, or gossip, or masks, or vaccines, or politics, or our rights as an American than we have ever gotten about the miraculous and undeserved grace that God has lavished on us to save us from our own depraved selves and to give us true freedom and salvation and eternity with Him…then something is very wrong.
We are not called to reflect Christ only when things are going the way we want them to or when others agree with us. Is it not in times of great difficulty and great challenges that we are offered the most impactful opportunities to show the world just what kind of God we serve and who has put His spirit within us?
May Christ be magnified in us in every moment, in every interaction, in every disagreement, in every disappointment and every victory, through every trial and every delight.
The world has enough division and hatred on its own. As the church living in this world and representing Christ in this world, and if we ever want to be a part of how God moves hearts in this world, may the cry of all our hearts be that Christ be magnified in us, above all and through it all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -Colossians 3:12-17
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. -Galatians 5:22-26
Brianna Lee Kauffman 