A Hall of Doors

Since my books have been published, I have been thrilled to have helped many people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It has been amazing! Many of them have been baptized and have joined various churches. I have often wondered if I should be doing more to encourage these people to join my church instead of just any church. After all, if I didn't think my church was the right one, why would I keep going?

I was grateful to find the answer in a book I am now reading, which I am sure many of you have read. (If not, pick up a copy, it is brilliant!). I am reading, "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. In the preface, he gives an analogy that truly impressed me. In it he describes the idea of "Christianity" as:

"It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable."

He goes on to explain how one should choose a room, "In plain language, the question should never be, 'Do I like that kind of service?' but 'Are these doctrines true: Is holiness here?' Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to knock at this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike of this particular door-keeper?' "

He goes on, finally, to say to those of us already in a "room": "...be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house."

So, in the end, which do I think is more important, that others know my church doctrines, or that they know my Jesus? The answer is obvious!