Fear and Righteousness

Last night men's group was a bit better than sometimes. It seemed that there was more heart talk by more participants than is often the case. We got into the subject of fear and had a lengthy interaction about some of our fears and trying to understand what fear really is. The idea of walls around our hearts came into the discussion the leader brought out the story of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the return of the Jews from exile. It was noted that each family worked on the section of the wall nearest their home and the wall had to be interlocked with all the other sections of wall to be effective.

Another interesting observation was that the gates were built first before the rest of the wall. When we wondered how this story could relate to the walls we build around our hearts to keep everyone out, John made the very perceptive insight that God's walls have gates and ours don't. That struck me as very profound and I knew it would resonate in my mind for a long time to come.

The kingdom of darkness has counterfeits for every truth. God is in the business of tearing down walls but He is also in the work of building walls around us to protect us. The understanding that God's walls have gates manned by discerning gatekeepers to accept or reject what comes to us is very important.

Sin causes us to insulate ourselves from anyone touching our heart in an attempt to avoid our pain being reignited. We build our walls based on fear and mistrust. The walls take on all kinds of facades like bravado, pride, cruelty, piety, anything that seems to work. But they are built with the intent of self-defense because we don't believe anyone else will protect us or defend us. We believe from our past observations and conclusions that there is no one who cares enough about us to do the job right. If we don't look out for our own protection we will receive more irrepairable damage to our heart. So we build our walls thicker and higher as the blows continue to come and the missiles sail in over the top.

So my interest was piqued when I opened the devotional this morning and read this statement. “When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan.” (SD 23)

It struck me suddenly when I read this that while our walls are built in vain attempts to protect ourselves, God's wall, His fortress, is designed to protect His reputation in our lives. When we allow God to make us His dwelling place with no other god, no other authority, allowed to stay, then He creates the wall that is the only really effective wall that can protect our hearts so they can thrive and live. If our gates are connected by a vital link to the Holy Spirit we will experience not only protection but freedom to interact and connect to others without fear. We will still experience pain and disappointment and heartache, but our value and identity will not be crushed and mutilated by shame and guilt. We will begin to experience what it means to be truly alive.

There was one more sentence in this reading that startled and amazed me. “There is no election but one's own by which any may perish.” As I read on I was attacked by old feelings of legalism when I read “that His life and character should be a pattern for all to copy, that they might have the precious gift of eternal life.” At first it seemed inconsistent with the previous, positive statements. It seemed like more double-talk that I was so familiar with and has turned off so many of my friends.

But then I realized – a copy is not a new original. When I get a copy from a copy machine I do not go through all the work of producing a new original document. I simply take full advantage of the work of the first original and make full use of it. Just the same. Jesus created the original and only perfect human life. All the rest of us can simply become a copy of His life when we trust His life for our merits. We don't have to create new righteousness in our life. We just let Him do His thing in us by the Holy Spirit and we become perfect, synchronized with God.