Shut up you fool - you'll get us both fired

Desperate for employment, a depression-era farmer applied at a passing circus. At the circus office door he made an impassioned plea. "I'll do anything," he begged.
At this, the manager's eyes lit up. "You're hired, I need a new gorilla. The old one has died, and we cannot afford to import one. We have skinned old Kong out, and I need someone to wear the suit and do the gorilla act”.

The farmer's reluctance dissolved at the mention of a sizable salary. Pride gave way to necessity, and his new career was launched – a circus gorilla.

As it turned out, the farmer enjoyed it. His act was dramatic and crowd-pleasing. He would swing out over the lion's cage on a rope and chatter excitedly at the enraged beast below. The rope was carefully measured to ensure the risk of being eaten alive by the lion was minimal.
But during a matinee one day, miscalculation brought catastrophe and the gorilla tumbled into the lion's cage. The lion leapt upon him immediately and, placing a massive paw on either of the gorilla's shoulders, began to roar in his face.

"Help", screamed the man in the gorilla costume. "Help me! Someone please save me!"
"Shut up, you fool!" the lion whispered in his ear. "You'll get us both fired."

Unfortunately, a great deal of what passes for true Christianity is nothing more than just “monkey suit” religion. We need to stop and consider our Christianity and ensure that we aren’t just playing church and religion and pretending that we have some sort of relationship with God. We must be very careful that our Christian walk doesn’t decline to the level where holiness has become more about obeying rules (and wearing the costume) than it is about becoming more like Jesus. It is my belief that many that profess to be Christian have simply mastered the act of looking like a Christian. Many are simply wearing a Christian costume and just hoping that they don’t get found out!

Christianity is not so much about the outer “costume” that we design, but it is about an inner change that results in an outer change. That inner change is the infilling of the Holy Spirit. As the old song says, “Jesus on the inside, working on the outside”.

The Bible says that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit that are filled with power (Acts 1:8). So, over the next few posts I want to explore why it is that there are so many Spirit-filled Christians that are not exhibiting this power! What is it that is stopping the “power” breaking forth?The greatest hindrance to the release of the Spirit in our lives is the outward man, the flesh, the carnal man – the costumes of Christianity that we wear as a substitute for the real thing! “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).

That's my five minutes!