Break Down the Walls (Walls to Altars part 1)
A weekly wisdom
A couple of years ago, I asked God a question: What are some walls I’ve put up in my life that are blocking me from becoming more Christlike?
See, I believe we all put up walls in our life. It could be a wall of doubt. A wall of shame over past mistakes. A wall of lies about God. A wall of anger and unforgiveness. A wall of insecurity. A wall that comes from external situations or people. Or something else entirely.
These walls can create either nice comfort zones that seemingly protect us, or insurmountable obstacles creating frustration and doubt. Either way, they prevent us from moving forward, they stop us from growing.
At the time, I was feeling stuck and frustrated. I was struggling to hear from God, not moving forward in any of my goals, and having a hard time connecting with others.
And so I prayed for God to start showing me the areas of my life that needed to be transformed. I prayed that he would show me the walls that needed to come down.
I was expecting that the Holy Spirit would show me a lie I was believing, or perhaps someone I needed to forgive. Instead, I saw a massive labyrinth of walls that towered into the sky. The Holy Spirit began bringing up all these areas I still needed to work on. Suddenly, what I thought was my identity had been revealed to be a prison that kept me from being who God had created me to be.
I immediately felt overwhelmed. There was so much sin and doubt in my heart. There were so many impossible situations I was expected to face. My mind began to race as I thought about all the things I had to do and fix.
And then the Holy Spirit stopped me with a simple word: “No.”
I had instantly tried to fix everything myself. It was as if Jesus was waiting outside the door of my heart, and I frantically tried to clean up inside before letting him in.
I can punch a stone wall over and over again, but not even a crack will form - I need something a lot bigger and stronger than my fists.
And so I had to do something a lot scarier than hanging out in a labyrinth the rest of my life, I had to rely on someone other than myself. I had to rely on God.
I heard him tell me that he showed me the labyrinth of walls not because I needed to become perfect instantaneously, but so that I would turn to him.
And so I did. Gradually, he began to show me how I had doubted his faithfulness and provision. Then, how my insecurities had prevented me from connecting with others, and how my bitterness had kept me from realizing how much God had already given me. On and on, we slowly broke down walls that I had built.
This is what it means to be a Christian: to take the journey of becoming more Christlike; to allow the Holy Spirit to root out the evil in our motivations; to slowly change from a tree that only produces bad fruit, into one that is producing the fruits of the Spirit.
I’m not out of the labyrinth of walls yet. I suppose I never will be until I stand before the Lord in eternity. But everyday that I choose to take a step toward God, more walls come down and more rubble is created.
So now I ask you this question: what are some walls you’ve put up in your life that are blocking you from becoming more Christlike?
Stay tuned next week where I talk about turning the rubble from those walls into altars to God.