Walls of Insincerity and Ignorance

Last month we discussed walls of indifference. We concluded that walls of indifference, although protecting us from having to deal with others, do not show others the love of Christ we claim to have, and, therefore, isolate us from others and the calling that Christ has on our lives. WALLS OF INSINCERITY Walls of insincerity have to do with a lack of genuine concern for one another. In other words - hypocrisy. This occurs when we walk around giving others a false sense of security and concern. We claim to be there for others - pretend we are reliable and trustworthy, all the while we are insincere. If you are not the person who has put up these walls, I’m sure you’ve been the recipient a time or two. As the song goes, they smile in your face - all the while they’re trying to take your place, the backstabbers! The wall between you is so thick - yet you don’t know it’s there until its too late because you have been led to believe that you could rely on them or trust them. Psa. 5:9 says “For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wicked; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.” WOW! That’s not a very flattering description. Do you want the reputation of being an unfaithful person whose very throat is like an open grave? This is the way of the insincere person - one whose flattering tongue promotes deceit. Psa. 52:1-4 says that such a person loves evil more than good, would rather lie than speak the truth. It is not good to be insincere. We must practice what we say we believe. We must be an example of Christ - full of godly character, denying those things that are contrary to His Word. WALLS OF IGNORANCE Ignorance is not just not knowing. It is also knowingly ignoring what you know to be true and right. We can put up walls of ignorance when we don’t know something and when we don’t want to know something because we don’t want to be held accountable. Sometimes we don’t want to know better because it will require a deeper service and commitment than we are willing to render. We don’t go to bible study or Sunday School to know more because then we may be faced with realities from the Word that we are not willing to face. We like things just as they are, going to church on Sunday is more than enough. My friend, if this is your ideology I suggest you find out where you stand spiritually at once. You cannot choose to run away from biblical knowledge thinking that you won’t be held accountable for what you don’t know. If you don’t have a desire or yearning to know more about the Word so that Christ can increase in your life- if you don’t recognize that there is no good thing in you and that you are not in control of your own life - then you may need to check your salvation and make sure that you are a part of the elect! We can’t hide behind our walls of ignorance and assume that there will be no accountability. What you don’t know you need to seek God for, what you do know you need to respond appropriately to- but you can’t run from what is true . What is God’s response to the walls that we are building? He wants to get close to you. He wants to be intimate with you. Stop building walls to protect yourself from others and fromHim. Let HIM in and He will handle the others. Kingdom building is far more effective than wall building. Won’t you trust HIM?He knows all about you. Let Him help you tear down the walls - brick by brick, layer by layer. If you allow Him to heal you of your past hurts, let go of the baggage - you’ll feel lighter and find that reaching out is not as hard as you thought. My friend, allow Him to do that within you. The house that He has prepared for you is far more wonderful than the fortress you’ve built around yourself! Let’s make a commitment in 2006 to tear down the walls we’ve built so that we can be more effective for Jesus Christ!