Post date: Apr 08, 2014 3:56:50 PM
Never before, in all the history of the world, has any nation ever put up walls around itself to keep average people out. Surely some will bring up walled cities, or the Great Wall of China, or some other such, but those were not built to keep average people out. In fact, regarding those walled cities, the average citizens of them would conduct much of their daily lives outside of those walls, only coming inside when war threatened. Those walls were there to protect their people from armies—not from average, everyday people. As well, the Great Wall of China was erected to keep out invading hordes of armies from opposing kingdoms—not to keep out average, everyday people. Many nations—many wicked nations—have erected barriers around themselves, but those barriers are there not to keep other peoples out, but to keep their own people in. They do it because they are so wicked that their own people want to flee, and that would leave the wicked ruling over emptiness. No other nation has ever put up walls around itself to keep average people out, and it grieves my heart that the citizens of this nation have sought to do so. In so doing we erect our own prison bars around ourselves. Thinking to keep others out, we imprison ourselves in.
These are symptoms of the wickedness that reigns in the hearts of the citizens of this nation. This “our four and no more” attitude has burgeoned ever outward until it threatens to imprison us in a cage of our own making. We lock our doors to protect our families from the evil outside, but when we are away and we still lock our doors what people are protected by that? Here you will say, “We are protecting our possessions and therefore protecting ourselves!” Even when you are not there? Hmm. Okay, I’ll go with that. But it goes farther. We build up grand edifices in which we purport to worship God, but when we deem our service to God complete we again lock the doors. But, then, we keep the heat on, so that pipes and pews and tables and chairs have warmth while locking people outside to freeze to death! Who are we protecting there? We build up walls around us thinking that we are protecting ourselves from the evil outside, but there is only one Jesus Christ. Of all of those who have been sired by a biological father there is not a single one who has not been born with sin—that is, with evil—within their own heart. What wall, therefore, is there to protect us from the evil that reigns within?
There is none!
Such walls do not protect, but imprison! They “protect” our sin from the cleansing fire of the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is greed that drives us to erect walls around ourselves, our own communities and our own nation. We imprison ourselves within the very walls of death and hell.
It is these very walls of our own devising that will serve to imprison us in our own guilt and our own sin.
Where there are walls we should be opening doors, not locking them. When we lock the doors of our hearts we lock ourselves away from Christ!
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any should give ear to my voice and open the door I will come into them and sup with them and they with Me.” Revelation 3:20
Open those doors!