Empty Boxes

 

Photo by Mike Goren 2006

I recently dreamed that my husband and I were hosting a children’s party at our ballroom. The theme was a treasure hunt in which each child would choose among different wrapped boxes until they found one containing a valuable present, which they could keep.

We wrap empty shoeboxes in red, blue, green or yellow kraft paper and put individual gifts in boxes that are wrapped similarly, except that each of these is decorated with a pleated, semicircular paper fan, white with colorful embellishments. The centerpiece for each table is an assortment of these boxes – some empty, some containing treasure.

Once the party begins, we’re surprised that most children choose the undecorated boxes, even after they see other children find a present in the decorated boxes. We are even more shocked and disappointed that some children who unwrap a box containing a present don’t like it and refuse to keep it, even throwing a temper tantrum and lashing out at us for not giving them something better.

As I awoke and contemplated the meaning of the dream, I considered that God offers each of us the most valuable gift of all – eternal life by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

That “unspeakable,” or unimaginably precious, gift (2 Corinthians 9:15) is freely available to anyone who accepts it (John 3:16; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13). We don’t deserve it and can’t earn it (Ephesians 2:7-9), for we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment in hell, separated by our sins from holy, righteous God (Romans 3:23). Yet God through His grace offers us forgiveness of our sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25), the perfect Lamb of God Who died in our place to pay our sin debt (John 1:29).

God created each of us to desire that gift. All seek happiness and peace, yet so many fail to find it because they look in all the wrong places – wealth, power, prestige, human relationships, and even substance abuse.

In the dream, all the children were eager to look for the treasure, but many chose the empty boxes, ignoring the obvious clue of the wrapping, even when they witnessed other children finding treasure only in the decorated boxes, and not in the plain boxes. The pleated fan identifying the filled boxes was like an angel’s wing, or like the fan in the hand of Christ as He judges those who accept or reject Him (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17). The fan was white, symbolizing Christ’s purity, yet adorned with brilliant colors reflecting His multiple attributes and rainbow-lit throne (Revelation 4:3).

It was not a subtle clue, just as God’s Word is clear, not covert, about how we can obtain eternal life. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He clearly states that we can find peace regarding our eternal destiny in Heaven only through His Son, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

But sadly, many want to complicate that clear direction, and they distort and pervert the Gospel (Matthew 7:15) by claiming that there are many roads leading to Heaven, or that we can only get there if our good deeds outweigh the bad, or only if we are baptized, or circumcised, or perform other rituals. But God views these feeble attempts at salvation as “filthy rags” and a slap in the face to His Son’s completed work on the cross (Isaiah 64:6).

In the dream, we didn’t spell out that only the boxes decorated with fans contained treasure. But the children should have quickly learned that because they had seen different boxes opened and viewed their contents.

Once we are saved, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and our changed life should be a clear witness to others about how they too can be transformed from doomed sinner to Heaven-bound saint. But we should also tell people what Christ has done for us and be prepared to show them what God’s Word says about how they can find eternal life in Heaven (1 Peter 3:15).

We were even more disappointed in the dream that some of the children who found the treasure rejected it, or even lashed out at us because it was not what they wanted. God’s gift of salvation is freely offered, yet we must accept it to claim its benefits. Sadly, many who hear the Gospel dismiss it or even angrily attack those who present it, just as the Jews were so furious with Stephen for telling them the truth about Christ (and their having killed Him) that they gnashed at him with their teeth and stoned him to death (Acts 7)

May our changed lives in Christ be a clear road map to others about how they can find the treasure of eternal life! May we also be bold to clearly tell others the truth of how they can end their futile search for happiness in all the wrong places and find the true gift of eternal life in Christ alone!

© 2024 Laurie Collett