walls, hobbits, such and so forth….

I have a friend who is a hobbit and he is always talking to me about my walls, the one’s that I have built around me to keep people out or at a distance. I know they are there, have always known it and to be honest have most of the time embraced them. I have crafted them well and each provides a different thing for me. Some offer protection, some offer peace of mind, some keep people out and some keep people in, and some if not all are barriers to things in life that maybe I should be experiencing.

I wrote these lyrics probably two years ago about these very things:

Walls

Walls painted red
Walls painted black
Walls there in front of me
Walls at my back

Every where I turn
These old walls are just screaming at me(surround me)
Everywhere I turn I start screaming right back
I want to be free
Free
free

Walls around my heart
Walls built up in my mind
Walls so high
Walls I can’t possibly climb

Every where I turn
These old walls are just screaming at me(surround me)
Everywhere I turn I start screaming right back
I want to be free
Free
Yeah free

These walls are killin me
I’ve built them brick by brick
I needed shelter
And these walls haven’t done the trick
Now I’m stuck on the inside
A place I once thought was safe
I need to get outside
i need to escape

i want to be free

I am trying to live outside the walls now, trying to get past the past, the past that started the wall building enterprise in the first place. Stepping outside these walls comes with a price and it is scary territory to be in. It’s always easy to turn back to the protection they offer and maybe even build new ones but freedom I think is worth the risk and cost.I know that I have been talking about me but I realize that we all have walls and I also know that there are many of you who are actually as good at building walls as I am. I am not alone here. We all get hurt along the way and being hurt is never fun, and the natural reaction to that is to do something that keeps that hurt from happening again. Remember the old joke, the guy goes to the Dr. and says every time I move my arm like this hurts. The Dr. looks at him and says, don’t move your arm like that. Ha ha ha ha!

Well the deal is we are all going to experience hurts but we can’t let those hurts keep us from experiencing life, keep us from experiencing relationships, keep us from experiencing love. We need to learn from the experience but not let the experience keep us from experiencing.

Romans 5 ³ We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. ⁵ And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

There have been walls between us and God, sin is one of those walls.

Romans 5

¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. ¹⁹ Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Our sin hurt God but that didn’t keep God from continuing to pursue us and make a plan where we can be restored and I am so thankful for that.

There were walls in the tabernacle and the temple that kept all but the high priest from God, but Jesus came to break those walls down, and once again I am so thankful that.

Matthew 27

⁵⁰ Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

Because of this we have direct access to a God without walls and are able to have a relationship with Him that was not possible before Jesus. Since God is in the business of tearing down walls and I am in my Father’s business I am going to work at tearing down walls in my own life. I will probably start by building a few doors first then move on from there……….

~ by gregcoe on April 8, 2009.