We limit ourselves by our own limitations. By putting our minds in a box and closing the lid, we can lock ourselves away within ourselves, refusing to believe that anything can be believed outside of ourselves, outside of our traditions and values, personal opinions and philosophies, mixed with religious and political persuasions, and thereby seal ourselves away in the privacy of our own minds, behind closed doors, refusing to come out to make ourselves known. As such, we can live our lives in the secret society of self. This way, we can present ourselves according to the image we want others to see as we appear on the outside, but not allowing others to enter our secret dwelling place, nor to know the decisions we make in our secret committee meetings with self, behind the closed doors of our minds, which does not include a secret code, a secret knock on the door, nor a secret handshake.
Because people have the power to turn the key, people can keep the door of their minds locked. They can live their lives in stone-cold silence. Their faces can be read like tombstones without a script. They seldom smile, rarely laugh. They sit, they stare, they look around. Their topic of the day is usually the same as yesterday: "How's the weather?"
If you were asked to speak at the funeral of Jesus, what would you say about Him?
Would you look around and say: "How's the weather?"
No, you would need to ask His family and friends to tell you about Him.
One said He was from Galilee. Another tells about His childhood days in Nazareth. A few say they saw Him turn water into wine, walk on water, and raise a dead man to live again. A woman said she gave birth to Him while she was a young virgin. You make notes. You write it all down. Then you stand and speak the words of others about a person you never met. You stay and watch the stone roll across the face of the tomb, then you go home.
Until people are willing to roll the stone from the face of their minds, the Light of Christ will never come in. They will remain there, living behind closed doors, and the most they will ever know about Christ is from the words they hear from others. If they go to church, they will take their boxes of crayons and coloring books, their notepads to doodle, and their iPhones to text and check the weather. They will wear the appropriate clothing for the day. They will sit, they will stare, they will look about. They will bow their heads, close their eyes, and peek at their watches. For in their minds they believe it is good to be seen in the house of the Lord. But when they leave the building, they will not know anymore about Christ today than the day they spoke at His funeral.
But let us stop here for a moment.
If we in the church do not believe that Christ is alive and living, what are we doing there?
If we in the church do not believe that Christ is alive and living, do we not think that others will see through our hypocrisy behind closed doors?
Is the story of Christ no more than just a story in a storybook that we read and hear about from time to time, then close the book? Or is going to church no more than fulfilling a family tradition, or a religious ritual behind closed doors? For if I do not believe that Christ is alive and living, would I dare try to persuade others that Christ is living now, or that Christ is the Savior of my soul?
The funeral of Jesus was a serious matter. His family and friends were hurting people on that day in Jerusalem. The death of Jesus was painful to them. They wept, they cried, they were in mourning, not wanting to eat food or drink water, and not wanting to sleep. They had watched in agony as Jesus died a death of agony. His body was bruised, battered, and bleeding. Then they watched as people gathered the lifeless body of Christ and laid Him in a tomb.
At best, perhaps we are feeble in our attempt to tell the story of Christ. Even this page you are reading now is a writer's feeble attempt to tell a story that has been told a thousand times. But who are we behind the closed doors of our own minds? Are we to keep the story of Christ in our minds and not let Him out? Or is Jesus to remain our little secret?
But if we do not believe that Jesus died, how can we believe in His resurrection? And if we do not believe in His death, nor in His resurrection, then what story do we have to tell?
If, however, my church attendance is all about me and not about Christ, then I don't need to go to church to do that. For I can worship me without ever leaving home---in my own mind and with the lid closed---not knowing or ever believing that my mind will become my tomb.
"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1st Corinthians 2: 4-5)
Because people have the power to turn the key, people can keep the door of their minds locked. They can live their lives in stone-cold silence. Their faces can be read like tombstones without a script. They seldom smile, rarely laugh. They sit, they stare, they look around. Their topic of the day is usually the same as yesterday: "How's the weather?"
If you were asked to speak at the funeral of Jesus, what would you say about Him?
Would you look around and say: "How's the weather?"
No, you would need to ask His family and friends to tell you about Him.
One said He was from Galilee. Another tells about His childhood days in Nazareth. A few say they saw Him turn water into wine, walk on water, and raise a dead man to live again. A woman said she gave birth to Him while she was a young virgin. You make notes. You write it all down. Then you stand and speak the words of others about a person you never met. You stay and watch the stone roll across the face of the tomb, then you go home.
Until people are willing to roll the stone from the face of their minds, the Light of Christ will never come in. They will remain there, living behind closed doors, and the most they will ever know about Christ is from the words they hear from others. If they go to church, they will take their boxes of crayons and coloring books, their notepads to doodle, and their iPhones to text and check the weather. They will wear the appropriate clothing for the day. They will sit, they will stare, they will look about. They will bow their heads, close their eyes, and peek at their watches. For in their minds they believe it is good to be seen in the house of the Lord. But when they leave the building, they will not know anymore about Christ today than the day they spoke at His funeral.
But let us stop here for a moment.
If we in the church do not believe that Christ is alive and living, what are we doing there?
If we in the church do not believe that Christ is alive and living, do we not think that others will see through our hypocrisy behind closed doors?
Is the story of Christ no more than just a story in a storybook that we read and hear about from time to time, then close the book? Or is going to church no more than fulfilling a family tradition, or a religious ritual behind closed doors? For if I do not believe that Christ is alive and living, would I dare try to persuade others that Christ is living now, or that Christ is the Savior of my soul?
The funeral of Jesus was a serious matter. His family and friends were hurting people on that day in Jerusalem. The death of Jesus was painful to them. They wept, they cried, they were in mourning, not wanting to eat food or drink water, and not wanting to sleep. They had watched in agony as Jesus died a death of agony. His body was bruised, battered, and bleeding. Then they watched as people gathered the lifeless body of Christ and laid Him in a tomb.
At best, perhaps we are feeble in our attempt to tell the story of Christ. Even this page you are reading now is a writer's feeble attempt to tell a story that has been told a thousand times. But who are we behind the closed doors of our own minds? Are we to keep the story of Christ in our minds and not let Him out? Or is Jesus to remain our little secret?
But if we do not believe that Jesus died, how can we believe in His resurrection? And if we do not believe in His death, nor in His resurrection, then what story do we have to tell?
If, however, my church attendance is all about me and not about Christ, then I don't need to go to church to do that. For I can worship me without ever leaving home---in my own mind and with the lid closed---not knowing or ever believing that my mind will become my tomb.
"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1st Corinthians 2: 4-5)
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