Free To Be Wise Series

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK SERIES

FREE TO BE WISE

JAMES 3:13-18

#JAMESatCCC

WORLD IN LINE STORY PART 1 (p)

I want you to imagine that you are standing in a single file line. When you look forward, you see the back of the head of the person in front of you and can tell that there are many many people in line in front of you. The line stretches as far as you can see. You aren’t allowed to look behind you because in a single file line you are supposed to keep your eyes straight in front of you, but you do know that the line stretches behind you as far as the eye could see.

An announcement comes over a loud speaker:

“You are to stay in line no matter what.”

“You are to walk and follow the line.”

“Do not get out of line.”

“Do what you are told.”

“Do not look to the right or left or behind you unless you are told to do so.”

“Follow all directions.”

“Just walk straight ahead and just keep walking.”

The line starts moving and you walk along behind the person in front of you. It is not a hard pace, it is not a fast pace, but is a normal walking pace. You think to yourself, maybe this “walking in line thing” may not be so bad.

You are walking along and an announcement comes over a loud speaker:

“Stop walking and look to your right.”

In unison, all people walking in line stopped walking and looked to the right. Why? That is what the announcement said to do. That is what everyone else is doing. All eyes were looking to the right. The line was at wall of huge TVs with all kinds of images on them. The images were everywhere. Some of the images were graphically sexual in nature. Some were violent. Some were angry and hurtful. Over and over images were being shown that were meant to be violent and hurtful. The whole line just looked to the right and took in the images.

An announcement comes over a loud speaker: “Look front and begin walking.”

In unison, all people turned to the front and again started walking. Why? That is what the announcement said to do. The images you just saw were now stuck in your mind. You were seeing them again in your mind and in your imagination. Those images were hurtful.

You are walking along and an announcement comes over a loud speaker: “Keep walking and look to your left.” You kept walking forward, but your eyes looked left as you were told to. There were all kinds of mannequins and statues and phrases all over the place. There were symbols on flags. There were videos of people making speeches. The voice came back over the speaker: “You are to hate all these things. You are to hate people that look like this and hate people that believe these things. Memorize all this so you know who to hate.” You saw mannequins of people and symbols you recognized, but understood from the voice that you were to hate all these people and all these things.

You are walking along looking left and being filled with hate when you were told to look forward again and keep walking. The line kept moving. Why? Because that is what you were told to do. The line was fine, but you began to feel a little trapped. All you saw was the back of the head of the person in front of you. The hurtful images were burned into your mind. People you were supposed to hate were settling into your heart.

You are walking along and another announcement comes over a loud speaker: “Keep walking and start thumping the person in front of you in the back of the head. You may not turn around. You may not stop until we say.”

Immediately you start feeling fingers flicking the back of your head. You begin to do the same to the person in front of you. Over and over you flicked. Actually, the person behind you was hitting you in the same spot over and over and it began to be sore. Your head started to hurt. You were getting hurt and you were hurting the person in front of you. Over and over you hit. Over and over you got hit. The words “stop” came a long long time later. Your hand hurt. Your head hurt. Your neck hurt. The person behind you had caused you pain and you caused the person in front of you pain. Everyone just kept walking. Not one person got out of line.

An announcement comes over a loud speaker: “We want to remind you…

“You are to stay in line no matter what.”