May 25, 2018
By Debbie Bond
Humor me and play along. Time to go back to when you were young and get your imagination going. Picture a turtle. Now this turtle doesn’t like to go outside of his shell. He has found that the outside world is scary. It is full of predators and kids that poke at him—it just isn’t comfortable. He has figured out how to stay in his shell. (Now use that imagination.) Inside his shell he has a couch, TV, mini-fridge, and everything he could ever want. He has it decorated and has found that he can read and learn, and even grow in his relationship with God, just by staying in his shell. This is great, right?
This turtle has the life—he doesn’t have to worry about anything, and he can even have his religion while he hides in his shell. How many times have we hid in our religion? Have you pulled yourself inside your turtle shell of church, Christian music, and quiet time, hiding from the rest of the world? Sometimes as Christians we get overwhelmed by the outside world. We see the destruction around us and we hide. We hide in our churches. We put on our religious clothes, our religious attitude, and our religious smile. We go to church or we sit at home or at work or at school—and we work on our relationship with God. We don’t worry about others.
Yes, we can live a comfortable life as a Christian. We can read the Bible, pray, go to church once a week, and maybe talk to a few other church people occasionally. We can do our religious duty and not really bother to worry about others—or even Jesus—if we are perfectly honest. Too often we would rather be religious and comfy in our church pew, or on our couch, than to share Jesus Christ with anyone.
Jesus didn’t go to the cross for your comfort. Jesus didn’t bear the unbearable pain of the cross so you could learn about Him or so you could sing songs about Him. He didn’t bear the agony of separation from God so you could hide. He bore it all so you could live.
Get out of your “shell” church. There are people dying right in front of you. There are people going to hell because we are hiding in our shell of comfort. There is so much pain in the world. There are people giving in to all the things in this world that are leading them to death and destruction. Drugs, sexual immorality, and the perversion of the Gospel are just some of the destructive behaviors. We are Christ’s hands and feet. We are called. We need to get out of our “shell” and run the race that He has put before us.
God gives us a new shell. One that we can run in. Romans 8:11 (NKJV) reads: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” God has empowered you to run a race with the most amazing power that exists. Jesus raised the dead, healed people, and ultimately changed lives. If He lives in you, He hasn’t given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but the power to change lives. Stop hiding in your religion—run the race that God has set before you and has already declared to be victorious.
