Skip to main content

A City Without Walls

When I was younger, I took a trip to England.  During that short time, I was probably most fascinated by our stop in York.  Aside from the incredible Yorkminster cathedral we toured and the creepy "ghost tour" that we took, I was struck by how the city is surrounded by a stone wall.  The more I learn of medieval and ancient history, the more I understand how common this is because, for much of history, a wall around a large city was a critical component of the city's structure, strength, and security, providing a sense of safety to inhabitants and a deterrent to unwanted outsiders.  In a way, city walls also acted as physical container for group or cultural identity for all who "belonged" to that city.

But a city that was broken into and had no walls was defenseless, weak, provided no security for its inhabitants, and was therefore easy pickings for outsiders looking to steal what they can.  Rather than having a place for refuge, the inhabitants would scatter at the sign of the first threat.  This is the image the author of Proverbs uses to describe a person without self-control, a person who does not rule over his or her own spirit.  

"A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." (Proverbs 25:28)

Have you ever thought of yourself as a "city?"  What kind of city are you?  Are you a city that contains your spirit well, that is not easily plundered, with an identity that is grounded between your walls?  Or are you a city where your spirit is unrestrained and all over the place at the sign of the first threat, easy to provoke and take from, easy to have your buttons pushed, easy to draw away?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Drug of Being Offended

Being offended is the new pastime, but it doesn't have to be.  Long before it became cool on social media to be offended, I took up the sport of holding onto offense.  I've been a true pioneer in the art of brooding, a regular Tom Brady, a man ahead of his time, and I know I'm not alone in that.  But holding onto offense is like the worst kind of sport you can play.  The only ones involved in this game are you and those unwilling participants within the radius of the steam fuming out of your nostrils.  Any spectators who get close enough to watch are more like witnesses of a slow train-wreck.  Plus, there's no amazing come-back story where the score gets flipped in overtime and your team, the "good guys", win.  There are no wrongs righted in the making of this movie, and there's no happy ending to it. The only thing that happens, in our cosmic protest, is we hurt ourselves and those closest to us.   The offense game is  addictive, though...
Post a Comment
Read more

Law and Gospel Distinction Example

Below is an example of how the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is both practical and pastoral.   Chesterton's quote "We fear men so much because we fear God so little.  One fear cures another," is true, for all I understand.  I remember reading a whole book on this subject called "When People are Big and God is Small."  I was desperate to find a solution to what I was painfully experiencing, which some had diagnosed (and which I self-diagnosed from reading too many internet articles) as "fear of man."   I remember as I began reading the book, I was excited.  Many things written in the book resonated with me, and I had some hope.  But as I approached the end of the book, my countenance and hope had fallen.  Why?  In retrospect, I believe it's because though I had hoped for a solution, something I can do to change this, to free myself, and the truth is that the book was long on diagnosis and very short on a useful prescripti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Common Ground

I have at least three things in common with everyone I will meet, no matter what gender, race, sexual orientation, or political persuasion.   The first is that we're both created by God as His image-bearers and placed in this moment in human history.  The second is suffering.  This person before me either has suffered, is suffering, or will suffer.  The third is that we're both "sinners" -spiritually lost, dead, and bankrupt, in ourselves, in need of God's grace, forgiveness, and life found only in Jesus.
Post a Comment
Read more