Paper Walls...

I was in the car with my sister this past week as we heard a new song titled "Paper Walls." As I listened to the lyrics, I couldnt help but think of how much the Christian life is lived within those paper walls. Here are a few of the lyrics to give you the general idea:

Let's burn a hole so we can climb out

Of these paper walls and this empty house

Don't listen too close, their words are like guns

With bullets that fly and kill what you've won

Let's burn a hole so we can climb out

Of these paper walls and this empty house

We're the only thing thats real

These visions we have of ten years ago...

Some love to hate and some tell you lies

So let's make a toast and kiss them goodbye...

Here I am, still hold on to this

Dream we had, won't let go of it...

Let's take what hurts and write it all down

On these paper walls and this empty house

And when our ink runs out, we'll burn it to the ground

Here I am, still hold on to this

Dream we had, won't let go of it...

Here I stand, won't turn back again...

As I listen to that song, I envision the Christians who are living in houses made of paper walls - houses built by the hurt, lies, and darkness of this world. God has given us a dream, something we held on to and were excited about at first. But as we ran after what He put in our hearts, the world hit us across the face. And as we met with trials, walls began to build. The ironic part is: we arent trapped, even though we feel like it. We just have to realize those wall are only paper.

We live in these paper houses, thinking they will protect us from what the rest of the world will throw at us. And yet, in the bottom, deepest part of our hearts, we know that dream is from God and is meant to be fulfilled. Why cant we just set fire to the walls? Is it due to fear? To the comfort of living in some semblance of a house? 

We need to learn to break out. We need to write down what hurts, and let Christ set fire to those walls. We need to be freed to fulfill the purposes He created us for. Why cant we see that?

When I was in Mexico a few years ago, the church we were at had set up for prophetic art during the service. One of the members felt God put an image on his heart, so all service he was on the side of the sanctuary working on it. At the end, he held up an incredible sketching of a man inside a prison cell. He was lying on the floor beside a window - his shackles undone, the door opened. And yet, he continued to lie there. God was speaking through that image saying, "This is my church. I have freed you. FREED YOU! The door is open, I have paid your price, walk out and join me! Why wont you join me?"

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. There it is, right there. Galatians 5.1. We have been set free.

So let's take what hurts and write it all down. And when our ink runs out, we'll call fire from heaven to burn those walls down. And then well walk in the freedom we have in Christ, and never look back.

Never look back.

...

Lesson for today: Warren G. Harding was one of those men known for his striking features. Not that Im agreeing, or disagreeing. Just to say he was known for it back at the turn of the 20th century, according to journalist of the time, Mark Sullivan.