Box of Secrets - Dallas Meets Chris

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Two posts ago, we met Dallas, a young man heavily burdened with a “box of secrets”. Dallas comes to church with this box, unsure what to do with it, feeling very out of place because of it, and reluctant to let anyone see what is inside. Andy was no help. Like many church-goers, he was too busy with his own program to get involved in the messiness of someone else’s life.

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In the last post, we saw how Jesus responded to a woman whose “box of secrets” had finally spilled open for everyone to see. Jesus gave this response. “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” The woman left that place forgiven, freed, and with hope that a new life was possible.

Today, we will return to Dallas standing there in the church hallway with his box of secrets. Will he find the help he so desperately needs?

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Meanwhile Back at the Church...

With a deep breath, Dallas shifted the weight of his box and trudged on down the hallway. Just then, Chris approached from the opposite direction. His shiny black shoes and expensive suit proclaimed him as a successful businessman.

Chris frowned critically as he approached Dallas. “What in the world are you doing?” Chris asked, motioning toward the box.

“What does it look like I'm doing?” Dallas retorted sarcastically.

“Don't get mad at me! You're the one who is making life difficult for yourself,” Chris shot back with a small smirk.

“I know.  I know.,” Dallas admitted with a sigh. “But I've been carrying this box around for so long that I've almost forgotten what it is like to live without it.”

“What's in the box anyway?” Chris asked curiously.

After a long silence Dallas finally answered. “It's something I've never shown anyone before, but I can't keep going on like this.” He hesitated a moment longer. “If I let you see what's in the box, Chris,…maybe you can help me figure out what to do with it.”

“OK, why not. Let’s see what you’ve got,” Chris agreed.

Dallas set his burden on a nearby window ledge and hesitantly opened up the box. “Here.  I'll show it to you.”

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The businessman looked into the box and gasped. “Dallas, I never imagined you would do something like this!  I thought you were a Christian…or at least pretty good guy. I know I’ve seen you around church every once in a while. You shouldn't be like that!  Remember what the Bible says.  "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has gone.  The new has come."  You've just got to stop this, man! That's all there is to it. You should be past all that by now. Stop living in the past and get on with life!”

Chris made a hasty retreat from Dallas and his box of secrets. Dallas closed up his box, and silently picked up his burden once more.

*****

The Judge Condemns

In this story, Chris represents one possible response that can be encountered in the church when people take the risk to let someone see their “boxes of secrets”. I have to give Chris credit for at least trying to offer help. But his reaction to whatever ugliness was in Dallas’s “box of secrets” so shocked him that he failed to respond as Jesus did to the woman caught in adultery.

Chris got the second part right. He was really strong on “Go and leave your life of sin.” That is, indeed an important message for Dallas to hear. But he completely missed “Neither do I condemn you.”

***** 

Time For Reflection

What do you think about Chris’s response?

• How does Chris’s response compare to Jesus’s response?
• Was Chris helpful at all to Dallas?
• How does Chris's response compare with the way you would respond when faced with someone else’s “box of secrets”?

 “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11b)

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In our next post, Dallas will meet Celine, a lady from the church. Will she respond differently than Chris did? Will she respond like Jesus? How will her response compare with yours?

Box of Secrets - The Example of Jesus

If you remember from the previous post, Dallas’s box of secrets stands for things he has done that he doesn’t want others to know about, or it could represent things others have done to him that he prefers to hide from the world. Unfortunately, the longer he carries the secrets, the heavier they get.

The point of this series isn’t so much to encourage people to share their boxes of secrets as it is to help us as members of the church to seriously consider how we react to people we meet who for one reason or other allow us a glimpse into their boxes.

Jesus Meets a Woman With a Box

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Jesus had an encounter with a woman whose box of secrets had spilled out into the street. We read her story in John 8:3-11. This woman had been caught in the act of adultery. In the culture of the time, the penalty for this sin was death by stoning. The teachers of the law and religious leaders brought her and their accusations to Jesus in an effort to trap him.

Jesus told them that whoever had never sinned could be the first to throw a stone at her. Then he calmly bent down to write in the dust on the ground, leaving them to examine their own hearts.

One by one, the accusers disappeared. A lot could be said about their motivation...and their departure from the scene, but I’m not so concerned with them right now. I want to focus on Jesus’s response to the woman.

When all the religious leaders had gone, Jesus looked up at the woman and asked, “Where is everyone? Isn’t there anyone left to accuse you?”

“No one, sir,” the woman answered, not daring to look at the one man who could claim the right to throw the first stone.

With deep compassion, Jesus answered, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now, and leave your life of sin.”

Suddenly, the woman had a world of hope opened up to her. With those two sentences, Jesus set her free.

Jesus sets an example for us to follow as our lives touch the lives of others with their boxes of secrets. 

Time for Reflection

•  Take a moment to consider how Jesus responded to the woman and her box of secrets. 
• Consider how you tend to respond to the boxes of secrets of other people in your life. How does your response match up with the response of Jesus?

In the next post, we will see what happens when a man named Chris meets Dallas in the hallway at church and gets a peek into the secrets contained in Dallas’s box.