20/20 God’s Vision: From Sandbox to Sandbox

By Zach Neese

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:1–2

When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who had an amazing sandbox. It had deep, clean sand. It was well-shaded and well-equipped with buckets and butter tubs, shovels, soldiers, dump trucks, and adventure people. That sandbox represented endless opportunities. There were worlds to create and destroy, armies to rise and fall—all at the fingertips of imaginative, all-powerful seven-year-olds.

The only problem was that if I wanted to play in the sandbox, I had to play with my neighbor. He was a cheater, a crybaby, and a spoiled brat; but if I wanted to play in his sandbox, I had to play by his rules. And his rules were simple—he always won…and I always lost.

Lame.

So, I asked my dad if we could have a sandbox in our backyard. Dad and I built a fort, then I dug a huge hole in the floor, which I could fill with sand, water, horny toads…anything I wanted. My sandbox was the coolest in the world, and the best part was we played by the “right” rules, and I always won.

Freedom is largely a matter of whose sandbox you are playing in. Many times Christians are like kids playing in the Devil’s sandbox. We keep building our worlds and playing at life but can’t figure out why we always feel defeated. There are areas of our lives where we just can’t seem to find freedom, and we can’t figure out why. The answer is simple: we are playing in the wrong sandbox.

The best way to get in the right sandbox is through worship. You see, worship isn’t just singing songs to God. In fact, that’s probably the least of what worship is. The Hebrew word most often translated into worship is the word shachah. It means “to bow.” The Greek word for worship, proskuneo, means “to demonstrate your love for God by prostrating yourself before Him.” What do these two words have in common? The concept of bowing. Worshippers are people who humble themselves before God. Worshippers submit to Jesus’ lordship.

Before I became a worshipper, I spent my entire life submitted to a fallen system, bound to its fallen rules. I couldn’t have freedom in that system because its masters were sin, death, the grave, and the Devil himself. As long as I played in their territory by their rules, they always won and I always lost.

But when I became a worshipper, something transformational happened. My heart turned to God, and I submitted my life to His lordship. When I did that, I experienced a total paradigm shift. Suddenly, I was no longer living in alignment with the laws of sin; I was now aligned with the laws of life. In God’s sandbox, we play by God’s rules, and His Son’s victory defines everything. Addictions give way to freedom, lust gives way to love, anger gives way to patience, greed gives way to charity, bitterness to forgiveness, curses to blessings, death to life, sickness to healing, and sin gives way to grace.

In God’s sandbox, the rules say I live. In God’s sandbox, the rules say I win. I am more than a participant in life. According to Romans 8:37, I am a conqueror.

Worship puts me in my Father’s sandbox, because worship is a matter of lordship. Worshippers are citizens of their Father’s kingdom, submitted to His desires and rules and entitled to all of the protections and benefits of His throne. Whose kingdom are you living in? Whose rules are you bound by?

Look around you and check to see whose sandbox you’re playing in. If you need freedom in an area of your life, you’re probably in the wrong one. You need to get out of that sandbox and go home. It’s as easy as saying, “God, I haven’t been living life Your way, and it’s not working out. I want to worship You. I want to follow You as Lord and live life Your way. So from now on, I’ll do anything You tell me to. Make Your reign, Your kingdom, Your love, and Your power evident in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“As believers, we are called to live a life of submission—submission to God. Submission simply involves taking your mission in life and putting it under the Lord. You take what you want to do and put it under what God wants you to do. God has a mission for your life, but you have to put your life under His control to fulfill that mission. And when you do, He blesses you to be able to fulfill what He has called you to do.”