The lyrics of an old song raced through my mind and you know that kind of unexplainable smile and feeling you get when you remember an old song you once loved.
If you know Helen Baylor, you’ll recall that she’s an older generation of Cece Winans. So in her calm, rich voice she sang a song titled “Outside These Walls”. Below is the lyrics of the first verse:
Within these walls
We join our heart
We come together
To be set apart
But worshipping on Sundays
Is just a way to hide
If we can’t face on Monday’s
The dying world outside
Before I write the lyrics of the chorus, I’d like to highlight the lyrics of the first verse. The walls represents the church building. This implies that, we gather every Sunday to worship but our gathering is a mere waste of time and disguise if we can’t extend our lifestyle beyond the walls of the church into the world.
Is our behaviour on Sunday different from our lifestyle from Monday through Saturday? As Christians, it is very necessary we live holy lives every day.
The Chorus:
Do the crying know we care?
Do the lonely find us there?
Or are we so involved
We do not hear them call
Everywhere men are searching
They’re wondering why they’re hurting
Do they see the love of Jesus at all?
Outside these walls
The chorus is quite explicit. Are we touching lives? Do we notice those in need, do we notice the lonely and the depressed? We should spear our time for the lonely, comfort those who cry, smile or give a warm greeting to those outside our clique.
Our prayers and financial support can touch lives as well. We need to go an extra mile for those in need.
The last verse:
Within our hearts,
He planted a seed
A seed that we can count on
For every boy or girl
But safe in our seclusion
How can we grow
When outside these walls
There are seeds we need to sow.
In every human is a seed, a seed of love, a talent and a gift but how can we grow these seeds if we don’t go out to plant them.
Every seed has to be given away before it can be useful. A farmer leaves his home to plant his seeds in the soil where the rain and sun can make it grow.
As Christians, we must sow seeds not only within the church but outside it. In fact we need to bring down the walls we think makes the church because we are the Church not the Church building or Church premises.
Touch a life today. What do you have in excess that your neighbour doesn’t have? Who is that classmate or colleague of yours that greets you but you never give a response? Who has lived in your neighbourhood for so long yet you’ve never said as little as a “Good Morning” or “How do you do” to?
If we can’t do these little things then we are not living in love. You can’t love without giving.
I Corinthians 13 says, if we are high achievers or we have so much in our possession but don’t have love, we’re nothing. The amplified version puts it as “a useless nobody”.
Joyce Meyer commented, “It took me about forty-five years to realize that my priorities were mixed up. Love was not my first priority, but it needed to be. The commitment to learn how to walk in love has been the single best decision I have ever had as a Christian”
So change love to your number one priority [1 Corinthins 13:13] and you’ll be glad you did.
How do you show love ‘outside the walls’? Act in love by leaving a comment and sharing this post, it would be a blessing to someone.
Written by @tourpaline
