See What's Inside

In Colossians 1, beginning with verse 26, Paul writes about...
26the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.27To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.28Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
In this passage, as well as a passage in Ephesians 3, as well as in other verses, Paul refers to a "mystery." But, just because something is a mystery, that doesn't mean it cannot be solved or at least more facts can be discovered.  God is not withholding truth about Himself from His children, but we also cannot discover the wonders of this mystery without seeking Him diligently.  The mystery is wrapped up in the power and presence of the indwelling Christ, who has made it possible for human beings to come to know Him and to experience the living God in our lives.

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In Ephesians 3, the apostle writes about a "mystery" in Christ, that we can now discover through reading God's Word and allowing the Spirit to illuminate our minds.
8To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,9and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;10to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places...

YouTube has certainly become a method through which you can be entertained - you can view your favorite artists' music videos, or see a trailer for a film you may want to see.  You can see all sorts of animal tricks.  And, if you missed the State of the Union last night and really want to see it - you can view the White House channel's split screen coverage with the President's message side-by-side with graphic content.  You can see the official Republican response from Senator Joni Ernst, or the Tea Party response from Representative Curt Clawson.  Or, even response from other lawmakers, such as Presidential hopefuls, Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Or, the Libertarian response from a man named Arvin Vohra, vice-chair of the Libertarian National Committee.

There are some contributors to YouTube that can make money by allowing ads to be placed on the front end of their videos.  According to a story on the Yahoo! Finance website, YouTube allows certain content creators to monetize their videos through their “YouTube Partner Program,” which means ads will play before or around a video, and the content creator will be paid through an AdSense account.

The article states that some of the top earners include Taylor Swift, EMI Music, and the WWE. The number one earner, however, is a woman who makes videos of herself unboxing Disney toys -- and according to OpenSlate, she made $4.9 million in 2014 from YouTube ads alone.

The channel is called, DisneyCollectorBR, and it features hundreds of videos of well-manicured hands opening Disney toys and an accented voice describing what’s inside of the packaging.  But, you never see the owner's face - and as Yahoo! Finance says, "...her identity is a mystery."  It reports that, "The New York Times tracked down a 21-year-old woman living in Westchester but couldn’t confirm that she was truly DisneyCollectorBR, and Buzzfeed believe she’s an older woman living near Disney World in Florida."

Apparently, this type of video that features "unboxing" has become a trend on YouTube. Popular videos include the unpackaging of a pair of $700 Louboutin heels to opening a pack of Bic pens. DisneyCollectorBR’s unboxing videos get millions of hits -- her “Play Doh Sparkle Princess,” video has been watched over 178 million times and counting. Her channel has somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-1/2 million subscribers! Billions of views!

These videos are, as the TODAY website puts it, "mesmerizing toddlers."  The channel features videos with toys, bright colors, a sing-songy voice - what's not to love, right?   Well, I can imagine that voice might get pretty annoying, and the musical score - well...

I was trying to make a spiritual connection here, and instead of exploring a track of pure materialism and creating demand for products, I wanted to talk about the concept of "unboxing."   There is a certain excitement that can be produced in discovering what we have sought.  In this case, the viewers know basically what's inside, but maybe there's a certain thrill of seeing a package opened and seeing the components or maybe viewing those components at work.  Perhaps the exhilaration of "knowing."

The apostle Paul in Ephesians 3 writes about the revelation of a mystery.  In Colossians 1, we discover that is wrapped up in the power and presence of the indwelling Christ - Christ in us, the hope of glory.   We can be challenged to seek out the mysteries of Christ - we learn and grow as we discover more about who He is and what He wants to do in our lives.  

While we acknowledge that God is not hiding His revelation from us, we can only begin to progress in the fullness of the Christian life as we intentionally seek out His precepts.  We only gain knowledge as we expose ourselves to more of Him and allow Him to express His presence through our lives. The Lord is calling us to unwrap or "unbox" His truth, to see what's inside, and to discover the joy of abiding in Him.