[Author's note: I preached for the high school youth group last Sunday. Here's about what I said. More appropriately, here's what I intended to say. I was nervous, so it didn't all come out perfect. That's life, I suppose.]
Introduction:
Hi. My name is Tom. The Amazing* asked me to talk to you today. She said I could talk about anything I wanted to. While I was trying to figure out what I wanted to talk about, Fearless** suggested I talk about how awesome she (Fearless) is. And while I’m inclined to believe she is actually pretty awesome, I’m not going to spend too much time talking about that. Sorry Fearless**.
Here’s what I want to talk about: Fixing walls.
Can someone read Nehemiah 2:11 through the end?
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but that was riveting. You can keep your modern literature. I’ll stick to reading about Nehemiah riding around looking at broken walls. Okay, so maybe that’s not the kind of thing you’d read for entertainment, but it’s important. Before I tell you why it’s important, we need to talk about walls for a bit.
Walls: Keeping bad people from doing bad things since 2012 BC
(Date made up due to laziness)
Back in the day (in this case about 450ish BC) major cities needed walls. The obvious reason they needed walls is to keep people from stealing stuff. Major cities had all sorts of valuable stuff, and the people who had that stuff didn’t want other people walking off with it. People back then are pretty similar to people now in that regard. If there is a large amount of money lying around with nothing to stop people from taking it, eventually a dishonest enough person will come along and steal everything not bolted down.
The second reason that walls are important will sound similar to the first one. The second reason is security. I’m not talking about security in regards to material goods. That was point number one. I’m talking about the good old fashioned “nobody is going to kill me” kind of security. It’s pretty obvious that you’re not going to have a very happy city if everyone is looking over their shoulders wondering when the next round of people-killing raiders will sweep through.
The final reason walls are important, at least in the case of Jerusalem, is worship. The temple had just been rebuilt, and people were worshiping there. But it was worship under threat. They were surrounded by people who wanted the gold in the temple, didn’t like the Jews or their God, and wouldn’t much mind if the Jews died. All of this made it hard to worship well. Imagine standing up and signing praise songs when, out of nowhere, a gang of people rush into the room screaming something about death to the Bremertonians. The next thing you know, half the people in the room are kidnapped, recovering from being bashed repeatedly with clubs, or wondering where their wallets went. I assure you, entering in to worship would feel like a whole new level of vulnerable.
Why you care about walls:
Okay, so that was then. But we live in a different place and a different time. We don’t need walls around our cities to keep us safe from roving bandits and hordes of evil doers. And we certainly don’t need walls around our cities to allow us to worship. That’s one of those Constitutional rights people keep talking about.
All that is true. We don’t need walls in the literal sense. What we need is the third reason walls are important. We need enough security to allow us freedom in worship.
The world Nehemiah lived in is very different than the world we live in, but it was still populated with people. Their names may sound funny, but they experienced the same emotions we do. They laughed, joked with their friends, and fell in love. And they made the same mistakes we make. They lusted, lied, envied, and hated just like us. Always remember when you’re reading about stuff that happened to people thousands of years ago that they are like you. The fact that you know what a cell phone is and drive in a car in no way morally separates you from them. Because, no matter how cool our technology gets, it’s still being used by people.
This room you’re sitting in is a place of worship. This is the modern equivalent of the temple in Jerusalem. When you walk into this room, you are stepping into a room with defensive walls around it. Except the walls of this place aren’t made out of stone to keep bad people out. The important walls aren’t even made out of wood and plaster. The walls that keep this place safe are made out of love and respect. You should be able to let your guard down in this place because you are surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the love of Christ that keeps you safe here. He is your wall.
Allow me to get a little more personal. You are a place of worship. Those of you listening who have asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior have declared your body a temple, a place reserved for worship. And just like this room, it is the love of Christ that keeps you safe. He is your wall.
That is, he’s your wall as far as you’ll let him be. And if you’re anything like me, there are holes in your wall. There are places in you that you keep to yourself. Little spots (they always seem little) that you don’t want Christ to have. For some it’s envy. You want what those people over there want, and you won’t let Christ take the wanting from you. For others it’s pride. You will fix things your way in your time by your strength because you don’t need anyone doing anything for you. For others it’s stealing. Or lust. Or any other sin under the sun.
Each sin is a hole in the wall. Each part that you keep away from Christ is another place for all the bad stuff in this world to sneak in.
Okay, now imagine that you want to fix these problems. I say imagine because I know that some of you do not actually want to plug those holes in your wall. I am not an optimist. I don’t believe that the world is a shiny happy place full of shiny happy people all doing shiny happy things. I’ve seen enough of this world to know this: all the problems of the world are not caused by people not knowing any better. Some are, sure. But there are many, many problems in this world that are caused by otherwise good people choosing to be selfish, cruel, dishonest, and immoral because they want to. Good people, church people, sometimes choose what they want over what God wants.
If that’s you right now. If you’re sitting here out of obligation, and not because you want to worship Christ and come to know Him more, then what I’m about to say won’t help you much. There is no one that can make you want to live well. You have to make that choice for yourself. What I can tell you is that you can still choose Christ. Just because you’ve made a wrong choice or two doesn’t mean you can’t do things right now.
For the rest of you, the people who want to fix those holes in your wall, let’s talk about how to start doing that.
Fixing walls (because being made dead isn’t fun):
Step 1: Pray
Can someone read Nehemiah 1:1-4?
So, after he Nehemiah cried, the first thing he did was pray. This is not a coincidence. This is a good life practice. Ladies and gentlemen, do not overlook the importance of prayer. I know that it can feel awkward, but talking to someone you don’t know that well is awkward. The more you pray, the more you get to know the God you’re praying to, the less awkward the whole experience gets.
As a side note, guys, it’s okay to cry sometimes. Not all the time, mind you. Like, not watching a Lassie movie or anything like that. But if you’re mourning deeply, crying does not make you less of a man. It’ll probably make you feel a little silly, but real mean feel silly sometimes. That’s just life.
Back to what I was talking about.
Step 2: Get the King’s permission.
Can someone else read Nehemiah 2:1-8?
Before he set off to make Jerusalem a safe place to live and worship, Nehemiah asked the king if doing that was okay. Why? Because the king owned the city. And as I’m sure you all know, you don’t go around fixing other people’s cities without their permission. It’s simply not polite.
In our case, we don’t have a king who sits on a golden throne and kills people who annoy him. The king we’re talking about is the King of kings. As servants of Christ, your body, your soul, your good bits, and your faults all belong to him. It wouldn’t be polite (and wouldn’t be very effective) if you tried to fix yourself without asking his permission.
Think about it this way. Every part of you that you hold back from Christ is a part that you don’t trust him with.
Imagine telling him this: “Jesus, you can have me from 10 AM to noon on Sunday mornings, but you can’t have me on Friday nights because that’s when I drink with my friends. And, quite frankly, I think you’d spoil the party .”
If that seems too extreme, what if it was more like this, “Jesus, I know you want me to listen to my parents, but sometimes they ask me to do stuff that’s inconvenient. Like clean my room. Or take out the trash. I’m a busy person, Jesus, and I think it’s time my parents stop infringing on my right to not be annoyed by them.”
Every hole in your wall, every part you hold back, is a sin. And you don’t just sin against a rule book. There is no victimless sin. When you choose yourself over Christ, you do harm to him. To put it another way, the holes in you are injuries to him. Before you can fix the holes, you need to make sure that he is okay with you fiddling with his wounds.
The way you do this is simple. You ask for forgiveness. You tell him that you know you’ve messed up, that you’ve held back the parts of yourself that are valuable to him, and that you want to start making things right.
Step 3: Figuring out what’s wrong.
Nehemiah knew that having broken walls was stopping the Jewish people from worshipping God properly. It also left them in constant threat of being made dead. Something obviously needed to be done. We learned last week how Nehemiah got the king’s permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The scripture we read this week showed us what Nehemiah did before he started building.
Nehemiah did a survey. He didn’t just assume he knew where the wall was weakest, he didn’t just send out the repair crew to the first section of damaged wall he saw, and he certainly didn’t jump off his horse and start stacking bricks by himself. Nope. Nehemiah was a smart guy. He knew that the best way to fix a wall when you’re surrounded by people who don’t want you to fix it is to start at the weakest point and work from there.
It’s a safe bet that everyone in this room has holes in their walls that they don’t even know exist. We’re walking around with our defenses compromised. And, because the defenses we’re talking about are made from the love of Christ, we’re walking around with our ability to love our neighbors, our families, our enemies, and ourselves impaired. Everything in our lives is affected by this whether we recognize it or not.
Sometimes the flaws are hidden. They can be as subtle as having bad motives for doing good things. It’s like giving a bunch of money to charity so that you can see your name in the papers. Sure, the charity gets the money and they’ll do charitable things with it, but what did you benefit from it? Not much. A little fame, a few pats on the back, and maybe a commemorative plaque.
On a smaller scale, it’s like giving a buck to a bum standing on a street corner not because you love him, but because you want to be able to tell people that you help the homeless. You haven’t given the bum much, and you’ve only gained low-grade bragging rights.
But if you give in either of those cases because you love Christ and that love makes you want to love the people around you, then what you’ve done is worship. As a side note, you’re better off giving to local homeless shelters that try to help homeless people better themselves and get jobs than you are giving cash to people standing on street corners.
Sometimes the flaws are obvious. I’ve always had a problem with pride. I have a tendency to assume I’m right regardless of what the facts say. I’m better at this now, but back in high school I was pretty bad. I was convinced I was right about everything and the rest of the world hadn’t figured it out yet. After all, I’m Tom Stamey. And, as we all know, Tom Stamey is simply not wrong when he says something. Obviously.
Imagine how hard that made it for God to do anything with me. How can God teach me anything if I think I’m right about everything? Looking back, it’s pretty funny. There was so much that I didn’t know. I’m not just talking about knowing in the head, but knowing in the heart. I didn’t know how to love people properly. I couldn’t look past myself to look at what they wanted and needed. And what possible use is a know-it-all who doesn’t know how to love?
Now, I’m not saying that I’ve overcome the pride thing. I still struggle with it. But it’s better now. The construction has started, and we’ve made some progress. I’m just not finished yet. And that’s okay. That’s part of being Christian. We’re all works in progress.
The trick to this surveying is not to get discouraged. It’s easy to look at all the little faults in your life, get overwhelmed, throw your hands up in the air, and give the whole thing up as a lost cause. I mean, you can’t fix the whole wall all at once, so why bother, right?
The purpose behind surveying is exactly the opposite. Examine yourself. Know your faults. Find the fault that’s most likely to get you in trouble, and start there. Don’t try to fix everything at once. You can’t. I don’t care who you are, you aren’t that good. But that’s okay. Remember, Christians are works in progress. Nobody said getting to be like Christ would be easy.
Step 4: Actually starting to fix the wall.
Okay, so you’ve prayed, asked Christ for permission to start on this journey, and figured out what you want to fix. Now the question is: how do you fix it?
The answer is simple: You can’t. Not by yourself anyway. You need to start, but you need other people to help you finish.
Start by praying. It’s a running theme in Christianity. You won’t get to know God better by not talking to him. It doesn’t work that way. Ask for forgiveness for choosing yourself over him. Don’t promise never to do it again. It’s not nice to lie to God. Ask for his strength so you won’t do it again. Our hope for sanctification (which is a fancy way to say being made better) is found in Christ alone. It is his strength, not yours, that will form you and make this whole journey possible.
Then talk to a friend. A close friend you can trust. Maybe an elder, maybe just a more mature peer, doesn’t matter. It’s important that they’re a Christian because they won’t understand what you’re doing if they aren’t, and it’s important you see them semi-regularly because they won’t be able to help unless you do. Tell them what you’re trying to fix and ask them to help keep you accountable. Some people call these people accountability partners. I call them close friends. You can call them running partners, bad-thing-stoppers, or good-thing-helpers if you like. A rose by any other name will still poke your finger if you grab its thorns.
And then, and only then, do you try to start doing things better. The exact how depends on what you’re trying to fix. If you’re trying to stop lusting, I recommend avoiding TV shows that feature scantily clad people. Nude beaches are right out. If your problem is pride, try to remember that all your talents are really gifts from God. You didn’t do anything to deserve them. Treat them like gifts rather than proof that you’re better the other people .
Regardless of what you’re trying to do, don’t beat yourself up if you slip up. Everybody messes up. The trick is getting back up again. Remember to pray, and remember to talk to your accountability partner (or good-thing-helper, if you prefer). Talking to God and the people God put around you will help you keep everything clear in your head.
Fortresses of Love
All that sounds easy enough, but it’s usually not. Most people find the process of becoming more like Christ hard to do. After all, he was perfect and we’re… not perfect. And, anyway, what’s the point? We can still go to heaven if we’re not perfect. Why do we want to waste our time with “improvement” if what we have is good enough?
It’s true that you can go to heaven without ever having to become a mature Christian. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus will save those that believe in him. But why stop there? Why accept only the bare minimum of Christ’s love?
Christ didn’t come into this world just save you from hell. Christ came into this world that you might have life, not only in eternity, but right now. And I’m not talking about just an “I get by day to day” kind of life. I’m talking about a life so full of love that it radiates from you. The kind of love that gives hope to the hopeless, gives joy even in horrible circumstances, and changes the very fabric of the world that you live in. It’s a kind of love that infectious. Once you start feeling this kind of love, it makes you want to do crazy things. It makes you want to share it. You won’t be able to keep it in.
Imagine if you were surrounded by people that full of Christ’s love. We wouldn’t be talking about building walls of love. We’d be building fortresses. Great, soaring towers of love that can be seen from miles away. And that’s exactly what Christ wants. That’s the good news that he told his disciples to spread. That Christ was born again and living in his followers.
But you don’t just go from shattered walls and a creaky gate to soaring fortresses in a single day. You have to start somewhere. So we start small. And we keep going. One small piece, one brick, one thought at a time. And, eventually, we get to step back and see that, even though it didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere, we were really doing something beautiful.
I don’t know how your wall looks right now. I don’t know if its rubble or shining towers. Only you know that. But if you’re like me, with holes that need patching, my prayer is that you might start here and now. Let’s start rebuilding together.
*This is, of course, not her real name. But it's close enough.
**The woman in question is dating Wolverine. If that doesn't qualify as fearless, I don't know what does.
Introduction:
Hi. My name is Tom. The Amazing* asked me to talk to you today. She said I could talk about anything I wanted to. While I was trying to figure out what I wanted to talk about, Fearless** suggested I talk about how awesome she (Fearless) is. And while I’m inclined to believe she is actually pretty awesome, I’m not going to spend too much time talking about that. Sorry Fearless**.
Here’s what I want to talk about: Fixing walls.
Can someone read Nehemiah 2:11 through the end?
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but that was riveting. You can keep your modern literature. I’ll stick to reading about Nehemiah riding around looking at broken walls. Okay, so maybe that’s not the kind of thing you’d read for entertainment, but it’s important. Before I tell you why it’s important, we need to talk about walls for a bit.
Walls: Keeping bad people from doing bad things since 2012 BC
(Date made up due to laziness)
Back in the day (in this case about 450ish BC) major cities needed walls. The obvious reason they needed walls is to keep people from stealing stuff. Major cities had all sorts of valuable stuff, and the people who had that stuff didn’t want other people walking off with it. People back then are pretty similar to people now in that regard. If there is a large amount of money lying around with nothing to stop people from taking it, eventually a dishonest enough person will come along and steal everything not bolted down.
The second reason that walls are important will sound similar to the first one. The second reason is security. I’m not talking about security in regards to material goods. That was point number one. I’m talking about the good old fashioned “nobody is going to kill me” kind of security. It’s pretty obvious that you’re not going to have a very happy city if everyone is looking over their shoulders wondering when the next round of people-killing raiders will sweep through.
The final reason walls are important, at least in the case of Jerusalem, is worship. The temple had just been rebuilt, and people were worshiping there. But it was worship under threat. They were surrounded by people who wanted the gold in the temple, didn’t like the Jews or their God, and wouldn’t much mind if the Jews died. All of this made it hard to worship well. Imagine standing up and signing praise songs when, out of nowhere, a gang of people rush into the room screaming something about death to the Bremertonians. The next thing you know, half the people in the room are kidnapped, recovering from being bashed repeatedly with clubs, or wondering where their wallets went. I assure you, entering in to worship would feel like a whole new level of vulnerable.
Why you care about walls:
Okay, so that was then. But we live in a different place and a different time. We don’t need walls around our cities to keep us safe from roving bandits and hordes of evil doers. And we certainly don’t need walls around our cities to allow us to worship. That’s one of those Constitutional rights people keep talking about.
All that is true. We don’t need walls in the literal sense. What we need is the third reason walls are important. We need enough security to allow us freedom in worship.
The world Nehemiah lived in is very different than the world we live in, but it was still populated with people. Their names may sound funny, but they experienced the same emotions we do. They laughed, joked with their friends, and fell in love. And they made the same mistakes we make. They lusted, lied, envied, and hated just like us. Always remember when you’re reading about stuff that happened to people thousands of years ago that they are like you. The fact that you know what a cell phone is and drive in a car in no way morally separates you from them. Because, no matter how cool our technology gets, it’s still being used by people.
This room you’re sitting in is a place of worship. This is the modern equivalent of the temple in Jerusalem. When you walk into this room, you are stepping into a room with defensive walls around it. Except the walls of this place aren’t made out of stone to keep bad people out. The important walls aren’t even made out of wood and plaster. The walls that keep this place safe are made out of love and respect. You should be able to let your guard down in this place because you are surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the love of Christ that keeps you safe here. He is your wall.
Allow me to get a little more personal. You are a place of worship. Those of you listening who have asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior have declared your body a temple, a place reserved for worship. And just like this room, it is the love of Christ that keeps you safe. He is your wall.
That is, he’s your wall as far as you’ll let him be. And if you’re anything like me, there are holes in your wall. There are places in you that you keep to yourself. Little spots (they always seem little) that you don’t want Christ to have. For some it’s envy. You want what those people over there want, and you won’t let Christ take the wanting from you. For others it’s pride. You will fix things your way in your time by your strength because you don’t need anyone doing anything for you. For others it’s stealing. Or lust. Or any other sin under the sun.
Each sin is a hole in the wall. Each part that you keep away from Christ is another place for all the bad stuff in this world to sneak in.
Okay, now imagine that you want to fix these problems. I say imagine because I know that some of you do not actually want to plug those holes in your wall. I am not an optimist. I don’t believe that the world is a shiny happy place full of shiny happy people all doing shiny happy things. I’ve seen enough of this world to know this: all the problems of the world are not caused by people not knowing any better. Some are, sure. But there are many, many problems in this world that are caused by otherwise good people choosing to be selfish, cruel, dishonest, and immoral because they want to. Good people, church people, sometimes choose what they want over what God wants.
If that’s you right now. If you’re sitting here out of obligation, and not because you want to worship Christ and come to know Him more, then what I’m about to say won’t help you much. There is no one that can make you want to live well. You have to make that choice for yourself. What I can tell you is that you can still choose Christ. Just because you’ve made a wrong choice or two doesn’t mean you can’t do things right now.
For the rest of you, the people who want to fix those holes in your wall, let’s talk about how to start doing that.
Fixing walls (because being made dead isn’t fun):
Step 1: Pray
Can someone read Nehemiah 1:1-4?
So, after he Nehemiah cried, the first thing he did was pray. This is not a coincidence. This is a good life practice. Ladies and gentlemen, do not overlook the importance of prayer. I know that it can feel awkward, but talking to someone you don’t know that well is awkward. The more you pray, the more you get to know the God you’re praying to, the less awkward the whole experience gets.
As a side note, guys, it’s okay to cry sometimes. Not all the time, mind you. Like, not watching a Lassie movie or anything like that. But if you’re mourning deeply, crying does not make you less of a man. It’ll probably make you feel a little silly, but real mean feel silly sometimes. That’s just life.
Back to what I was talking about.
Step 2: Get the King’s permission.
Can someone else read Nehemiah 2:1-8?
Before he set off to make Jerusalem a safe place to live and worship, Nehemiah asked the king if doing that was okay. Why? Because the king owned the city. And as I’m sure you all know, you don’t go around fixing other people’s cities without their permission. It’s simply not polite.
In our case, we don’t have a king who sits on a golden throne and kills people who annoy him. The king we’re talking about is the King of kings. As servants of Christ, your body, your soul, your good bits, and your faults all belong to him. It wouldn’t be polite (and wouldn’t be very effective) if you tried to fix yourself without asking his permission.
Think about it this way. Every part of you that you hold back from Christ is a part that you don’t trust him with.
Imagine telling him this: “Jesus, you can have me from 10 AM to noon on Sunday mornings, but you can’t have me on Friday nights because that’s when I drink with my friends. And, quite frankly, I think you’d spoil the party .”
If that seems too extreme, what if it was more like this, “Jesus, I know you want me to listen to my parents, but sometimes they ask me to do stuff that’s inconvenient. Like clean my room. Or take out the trash. I’m a busy person, Jesus, and I think it’s time my parents stop infringing on my right to not be annoyed by them.”
Every hole in your wall, every part you hold back, is a sin. And you don’t just sin against a rule book. There is no victimless sin. When you choose yourself over Christ, you do harm to him. To put it another way, the holes in you are injuries to him. Before you can fix the holes, you need to make sure that he is okay with you fiddling with his wounds.
The way you do this is simple. You ask for forgiveness. You tell him that you know you’ve messed up, that you’ve held back the parts of yourself that are valuable to him, and that you want to start making things right.
Step 3: Figuring out what’s wrong.
Nehemiah knew that having broken walls was stopping the Jewish people from worshipping God properly. It also left them in constant threat of being made dead. Something obviously needed to be done. We learned last week how Nehemiah got the king’s permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The scripture we read this week showed us what Nehemiah did before he started building.
Nehemiah did a survey. He didn’t just assume he knew where the wall was weakest, he didn’t just send out the repair crew to the first section of damaged wall he saw, and he certainly didn’t jump off his horse and start stacking bricks by himself. Nope. Nehemiah was a smart guy. He knew that the best way to fix a wall when you’re surrounded by people who don’t want you to fix it is to start at the weakest point and work from there.
It’s a safe bet that everyone in this room has holes in their walls that they don’t even know exist. We’re walking around with our defenses compromised. And, because the defenses we’re talking about are made from the love of Christ, we’re walking around with our ability to love our neighbors, our families, our enemies, and ourselves impaired. Everything in our lives is affected by this whether we recognize it or not.
Sometimes the flaws are hidden. They can be as subtle as having bad motives for doing good things. It’s like giving a bunch of money to charity so that you can see your name in the papers. Sure, the charity gets the money and they’ll do charitable things with it, but what did you benefit from it? Not much. A little fame, a few pats on the back, and maybe a commemorative plaque.
On a smaller scale, it’s like giving a buck to a bum standing on a street corner not because you love him, but because you want to be able to tell people that you help the homeless. You haven’t given the bum much, and you’ve only gained low-grade bragging rights.
But if you give in either of those cases because you love Christ and that love makes you want to love the people around you, then what you’ve done is worship. As a side note, you’re better off giving to local homeless shelters that try to help homeless people better themselves and get jobs than you are giving cash to people standing on street corners.
Sometimes the flaws are obvious. I’ve always had a problem with pride. I have a tendency to assume I’m right regardless of what the facts say. I’m better at this now, but back in high school I was pretty bad. I was convinced I was right about everything and the rest of the world hadn’t figured it out yet. After all, I’m Tom Stamey. And, as we all know, Tom Stamey is simply not wrong when he says something. Obviously.
Imagine how hard that made it for God to do anything with me. How can God teach me anything if I think I’m right about everything? Looking back, it’s pretty funny. There was so much that I didn’t know. I’m not just talking about knowing in the head, but knowing in the heart. I didn’t know how to love people properly. I couldn’t look past myself to look at what they wanted and needed. And what possible use is a know-it-all who doesn’t know how to love?
Now, I’m not saying that I’ve overcome the pride thing. I still struggle with it. But it’s better now. The construction has started, and we’ve made some progress. I’m just not finished yet. And that’s okay. That’s part of being Christian. We’re all works in progress.
The trick to this surveying is not to get discouraged. It’s easy to look at all the little faults in your life, get overwhelmed, throw your hands up in the air, and give the whole thing up as a lost cause. I mean, you can’t fix the whole wall all at once, so why bother, right?
The purpose behind surveying is exactly the opposite. Examine yourself. Know your faults. Find the fault that’s most likely to get you in trouble, and start there. Don’t try to fix everything at once. You can’t. I don’t care who you are, you aren’t that good. But that’s okay. Remember, Christians are works in progress. Nobody said getting to be like Christ would be easy.
Step 4: Actually starting to fix the wall.
Okay, so you’ve prayed, asked Christ for permission to start on this journey, and figured out what you want to fix. Now the question is: how do you fix it?
The answer is simple: You can’t. Not by yourself anyway. You need to start, but you need other people to help you finish.
Start by praying. It’s a running theme in Christianity. You won’t get to know God better by not talking to him. It doesn’t work that way. Ask for forgiveness for choosing yourself over him. Don’t promise never to do it again. It’s not nice to lie to God. Ask for his strength so you won’t do it again. Our hope for sanctification (which is a fancy way to say being made better) is found in Christ alone. It is his strength, not yours, that will form you and make this whole journey possible.
Then talk to a friend. A close friend you can trust. Maybe an elder, maybe just a more mature peer, doesn’t matter. It’s important that they’re a Christian because they won’t understand what you’re doing if they aren’t, and it’s important you see them semi-regularly because they won’t be able to help unless you do. Tell them what you’re trying to fix and ask them to help keep you accountable. Some people call these people accountability partners. I call them close friends. You can call them running partners, bad-thing-stoppers, or good-thing-helpers if you like. A rose by any other name will still poke your finger if you grab its thorns.
And then, and only then, do you try to start doing things better. The exact how depends on what you’re trying to fix. If you’re trying to stop lusting, I recommend avoiding TV shows that feature scantily clad people. Nude beaches are right out. If your problem is pride, try to remember that all your talents are really gifts from God. You didn’t do anything to deserve them. Treat them like gifts rather than proof that you’re better the other people .
Regardless of what you’re trying to do, don’t beat yourself up if you slip up. Everybody messes up. The trick is getting back up again. Remember to pray, and remember to talk to your accountability partner (or good-thing-helper, if you prefer). Talking to God and the people God put around you will help you keep everything clear in your head.
Fortresses of Love
All that sounds easy enough, but it’s usually not. Most people find the process of becoming more like Christ hard to do. After all, he was perfect and we’re… not perfect. And, anyway, what’s the point? We can still go to heaven if we’re not perfect. Why do we want to waste our time with “improvement” if what we have is good enough?
It’s true that you can go to heaven without ever having to become a mature Christian. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus will save those that believe in him. But why stop there? Why accept only the bare minimum of Christ’s love?
Christ didn’t come into this world just save you from hell. Christ came into this world that you might have life, not only in eternity, but right now. And I’m not talking about just an “I get by day to day” kind of life. I’m talking about a life so full of love that it radiates from you. The kind of love that gives hope to the hopeless, gives joy even in horrible circumstances, and changes the very fabric of the world that you live in. It’s a kind of love that infectious. Once you start feeling this kind of love, it makes you want to do crazy things. It makes you want to share it. You won’t be able to keep it in.
Imagine if you were surrounded by people that full of Christ’s love. We wouldn’t be talking about building walls of love. We’d be building fortresses. Great, soaring towers of love that can be seen from miles away. And that’s exactly what Christ wants. That’s the good news that he told his disciples to spread. That Christ was born again and living in his followers.
But you don’t just go from shattered walls and a creaky gate to soaring fortresses in a single day. You have to start somewhere. So we start small. And we keep going. One small piece, one brick, one thought at a time. And, eventually, we get to step back and see that, even though it didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere, we were really doing something beautiful.
I don’t know how your wall looks right now. I don’t know if its rubble or shining towers. Only you know that. But if you’re like me, with holes that need patching, my prayer is that you might start here and now. Let’s start rebuilding together.
*This is, of course, not her real name. But it's close enough.
**The woman in question is dating Wolverine. If that doesn't qualify as fearless, I don't know what does.
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