TOO FAR IN OR TOO FAR OUT?
George Massey

Sam Shoemaker describes the dilemma that faces each of us as we become deeply involved in an intimate fellowship in Christ:

I stand by the door.

I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,

The door is the most important door in the world—

It is the door through which men walk when they find God.

There’s no use my going way inside, and staying there,

When so many are still outside and they. as much as I,

Crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many ever find

Is only the wall where the door ought to be.

They creep along the wall like blind men.

With outstretched, groping hands;

Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,

Yet they never find it . . .

So I stand by the door.

Jesus stood close to the door. He stayed so close that his critics did not consider him a religious man. He did not enter into the accepted pious practices of his day. In fact, he moved outside the door and associated with the “untouchables” and those of “questionable character.” Instead of fasting with the “religious”, he feasted with “undesirables.” He criticized the walls that piety had built to protect itself, and marched his motley crowd boldly to the door and into the Kingdom of God.

One of the walls that we build around us is the wall of our own “spirituality.” It is a strange twist that the devout life can separate us from those outside. And if it separates us from those outside, it separates us from God. The door must remain important for those who have already entered. If we go to far in, or stay too long, we may forget the importance of the door. Secure within the walls, we spend our time climbing to new heights of “spirituality,” by comparing our growth with those on the outside and with those “lesser lights” on the inside. It is a false security that moves too deeply inside and forgets where the door is.

The unique temptation of “renewal” churches is to focus exclusively on its new-found strength together, to move too deeply inside its own walls, and to stay too long. The greatest need in our life together is to stand by the door, and to go outside (but not too far out)! Let us say to all those in our community who are seeking for some meaning and purpose in their lives, that. . . We stand by the door!—George Massey ministers to the Church of Christ at Denton in Denton, TX.