"Give me Room lots of Room..."

If you are not sure you are claustrophobic (fearful of small or tight spaces) there is one sure way to find out. Have an MRI. When you walk into that room for the first time, you see this large machine with this tiny little round opening at the front just barely big enough for a human body. As the reality hits you that you are about to become that body, the opening seems even smaller. They make you lay down on the table, they strap you in, secure your head so you can’t move it, push the button and in you go. They tell you to lie perfectly still, like you have a choice. I’m not sure if you are allowed to blink or not while your’e in there but I think I’ll try it next time just to see what happens. As you enter this narrow little cylinder you can feel your shoulders touching both sides, your nose is almost hitting the top and all of a sudden you begin to panic. You don’t feel like the walls are closing in because they can’t possibly get any closer than they already are. You feel trapped, I think they forgot to put air in here, I can’t breath, I’ve got to get out, I don’t think I can do this. Yes, the nurse told me to relax but she’s out there, and I’m in here. You can’t relax in here. This is what it must be like to be in a coffin, but even coffins have a lid that opens up. This is worse than being in a coffin. People in coffins don’t realize how good they have it. As these thoughts swirl around in your obviously panicked and confused state of mind you are glad the MRI is just reading the brain’s tissues and not its thoughts. For the next 30 minutes or so you lie there, eyes closed trying not to think about where you are and wondering why things that are good for you never taste good and always seem so hard.
Most, if not all people do not like tight spaces. We want room, lots of room. Room to maneuver, room to turn around, room to stretch, room to grow, etc. We are not attracted to small or narrow gates and narrow ways. Proverbs tells us “that there is a way that seems right unto a man”. The way that seems right to the natural man is a wide gate and a very wide path. There is all kinds of room to form you own opinions about God and religion, there is room to maneuver, to stick handle around hard things like sin and Jesus Christ and the cross. It is a wide road that has room for everyone, yet leaves plenty of room for each individual to have it his own way, and do his own thing. Unfortunately Proverbs adds but the end is the way of death. Jesus said wide is the gate and wide is the path that leads to destruction.
Narrow is the gate and hard is the path that leads to life. Narrow means, you have to leave your opinions, your self righteousness, your good works behind. All you bring to the Narrow gate, which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone is your sin. You enter aware of your sinfulness saying God be merciful to me a sinner and God in his grace gloriously saves because Christ bore the penalty for my sin on the cross. But not only is the gate narrow, the way is narrow as well. It is a way of liberty and freedom but that liberty is only truly found in holy living. We not only bring our sin to Jesus, we turn from sin to serve the living and the true God. Sin always enslaves, but the truth sets us free, free to serve the God we were created to worship and love forever. The world hates this message because it is to narrow. They have no problem saying Jesus is one way, but they stumble over the fact that Jesus said he is the only way to God. John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but by me.

It has been said that you cannot put a square peg in a round hole. But that is really not true. You can put a square peg in a round hole if you make the round hole big enough. I’m afraid that is what we are doing in much of our evangelism today. People (the square pegs) who hate the narrow way can’t go through the narrow gate (the round hole) so we make the gate bigger. We try to make the gospel more appealing, we play down or eliminate repentance, sin, humble, broken hearts, the exclusiveness of the claims of Jesus Christ etc. Yes we get more people but they are deceived people. They are told they are on the road to heaven but the reality is they are still on the road to hell. They are still on the path that seems right to them but the end is death.
The greatest life, the abundant life is in the place you would least expect to find it by our natural reasoning. It is found in Jesus Christ. We find Him at the narrow gate, and he leads us on the narrow path. As we feed upon the Word of God and are filled with the Spirit of God we find that path filled with joy, peace, meaning, safety, forgiveness, freedom and in the end Heaven. Do you have spiritual claustrophobia? What path are you on?
Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

"Don't Shoot the Messenger?"

Proverbs 13:17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
   but a faithful envoy brings healing.
A wicked messenger. We know there are wicked people, see them on the news every night. Murderers, bank robbers, thieves, adulterers, and many other kinds of wickedness exists in our society. However, we do not often associate wickedness with messengers. How can you mess that up? Obviously when this was written there was no postal service or pony express to deliver letters to people. There was no radio communication between military officers to co-ordinate attacks. There were no newspapers to keep people abreast of what was going on in the world. So if a message was to be sent it would be sent by a person verbally in most cases but on occasion it would be written as well. Give so and so this message for me, they put a stamp on his forehead and off he goes. How hard is that? How can that messenger turn into a wicked messenger?
* They can refuse to go.
* They can look like they are going, but stop once they are out of sight of the one who sent them.
* They can go but not give the message.
* They can give it to the wrong person.
* They can give the wrong message.
* They can change the message slightly. They change it so it makes better sense to them.
* They can tell only part of the message. They leave out the parts they think may offend the hearer.
* They can add their own personal opinions and ideas to the message.
* They can take the information and use it for personal gain or advantage.
Obviously this would be disastrous. You think you are getting a message that is true and unaltered and you act upon that information. But your decision was a bad one because it was based on faulty information given to you by this wicked messenger. When you find out what the messenger said was wrong or altered in any way guess what’s going to happen to the messenger. He will find himself in a heap of trouble. That’s why whenever your hear “don’t shoot the messenger” you can be quite certain it is the messenger doing the talking. Maybe that should be changed “don’t shoot the messenger if he’s gets the message right.”
It is one thing to lie or mislead people about earthly things and that is a serious matter. But what about those of us who have been given a message concerning eternal matters. Heaven and Hell. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said Go and tell this message. Are we doing it? Have we altered it in any way? Are we trying to make it more palatable to the hearers by watering it down so as not to offend anyone. If they believe what we tell them, is it a gospel that will save them. Is there a cross, repentance, substitution, holiness, is the message “Christ died for our sins…”? Is Christ at the center of our message? Sadly today there are many who are preaching a message that is popular but not one that saves. How great is that wickedness?

a faithful envoy brings healing. Faithful to the message. Say this and we say it. It may not be popular, but if you will believe the gospel of Jesus Christ you will be saved. The number one character trait of a messenger is to be faithful to the message. He does not have to be clever, funny, or good looking he just has to tell it like it is.
As we think about this obviously the gospel is a very important illustration of this principle in Proverbs. But it applies in all areas of our lives. What kind of messenger am I in everyday life. When people see me coming what are they expecting to hear? What kind of information am I known to give most often? Do the messages of life I give to others bring healing, are they uplifting and encouraging but most importantly are they true? There may be hard things that need to be said but they are given not to hurt but to heal. Faithfulness does not mean our message never hurts but it is given to bring healing. Faithfulness means our message is given in love for the good of the hearer. When people see us coming may they run to us not away from us. They will do this if they know we are faithful messengers. They will do this if they know we love them. They will run away if they know our words cannot be trusted or are just words that wound but never heal, words that are not based on truth but opinion, bringing a message meant to tear others down not build them up. We all know people that when you see them coming you know all you’re going to hear is bad news and probably wrong news about other people. May we purpose in our hearts not to be such a person. May we be found faithful messengers that bring truth and healing to our families and our churches. Where ever we go our may our words be true, loving, kind and faithful to what God would have us say. May we boldly, truthfully and lovingly proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O God.”