"Rag Dolls and Plastic Horses"

I have a book in my library by Robert G. Hobson   The title was so intriguing, when I saw it in the Christian book store that I just had to buy it.  The name of the book is “Rag Dolls and Plastic Horses.”

The author told a story of visiting a missionary family in Papau New Guinea.  The couple’s two young children were playing in another room.  After a while the little boy came in the room where they were.  He was carrying a rag doll under one arm and a plastic horse under the other.  He declared defiantly, “These are mine!”

They laughed and kept on talking, but Mr. Hobson said he could not help but remember the “fiercely determined, willful look of arrogance for such a little boy.”

               

A rag doll and a plastic horse have no value.  The rag doll can’t talk or feel and a plastic horse cannot be ridden.  But to a three year old there was nothing quite as important; although there could be no relationship only ownership.

Mr.  Hobson writes:  ”We as Christians have our pet doctrines, evangelical cliche’s, theologies, denominations, evangelical phrases, hymns and choruses.  Should anyone doubt their value, all one needs to do is to challenge us and we will hear…”These are mine.”‘

James and I drove the church bus for a while when we were in Texas.  Along the way in our community, we passed several churches of all different denominations where people in our town met for worship.  We knew many of them and they were all good people.  They were as passionate about their denomination and what they believed as we were.  So one day we ask a pastor friend of our about this and his reply was, “Well, they are just wrong.”

We got very involved in the prison ministry and made an incredible discovery.  There were no denominational barriers to overcome, no programs, no church bulletin with a schedule of events.  There was just a group of people, some curious, some bored, but some genuinely wanting to know about God and the life He has to offer them.

We spent so much time there,a deacon in our church who was a very good friend of ours, told us, “Jesus did not die for those prisoners, He died for that church” and he pointed to the building.

We love our buildings, although Christ said He would come to live in a “building not made with hands” and that building is us.

We love our hymns and yet if we really read the words of some of them, they are not even scriptural, no matter how old they are or how long we have been singing them.

We have mission statements and church by-laws, programs, and business meetings, visitation, Bible school, committees to take care of everything from the nursery to the grounds.  We even have our names engraved on plaques on the pews.

The Children of Israel had laws for everything from which sin offering to bring to the priest right down to how far they could walk on the Sabbath and when they should wash their hands.

They fell in love with their “rag dolls and plastic horses” which had no life and lost sight of the One Who had called them and set them apart for His purpose.  The Chosen people were to demonstrate the presence and power of God in this natural realm.

God’s plan and purpose has not changed, only His place of residence.  He will come to live in us to demonstrate His presence and power in this world!

Let me give you an example.  When the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and planted the seed of Christ, the Son of God; for a little while you could not tell there was a change in her.  But little by little that which was growing in her began to “show” in her life on the outside.  Then there came a time when the Christ on the inside of her became manifest on the outside for all to see.

God did not come to live in us to give us something to do.  That was the law.  From the very beginning, His plan and purpose when He created man was to manifest Himself in a physical realm.

It is time to put away our rag dolls and plastic horses, do away with or sacred cows and admit that Christianity as we have known is does not work.

As a believer,God has taken up residence in us.  We are now His dwelling place.  He didn’t renovate us, He made us brand new.  We have many rooms in this new dwelling place to discover.  In these rooms are “everything that pertains to life and godliness” “according to His riches in glory.”

He’s given us the keys.  Let’s explore these rooms together.  And by the way, there are no “rag dolls and plastic horses” in this house!