When Christianity Stays Indoors

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). And yet many Christians have done just that hid their light, tucked their faith away neatly within the walls of their homes and church buildings. We become Sunday believers with weekday silence. Our lives glow quietly behind stained glass, never daring to shine in the city streets.

For many, the Christian life has become far too private, too domesticated. While we exalt Jesus behind pulpits and around dinner tables, we often treat Him like an uninvited guest in public. In our workplaces, schools, and social gatherings, we silence our witness. Why? For fear of offending. For the sake of fitting in. For the illusion of peace.

But Jesus didn’t come to blend in. He came to divide light from darkness, truth from lies, sheep from goats. His message is not tame, and neither is His mission. And His command to His followers was never to hide but to go.

Are We Really Following?

Multicultural societies, diverse in faith and ideology, demand tolerance but they often confuse it with silence. “Leave your faith at home,” they say. “Keep your Jesus inside your church.” And many believers comply, convinced that discretion is the better part of witness.

But God has never been content with a corner of our lives. He is not satisfied with mere attendance or whispered prayers behind closed doors. He claims the whole world and every inch of our lives. He calls us not to retreat, but to engage. Not to whisper, but to proclaim.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Sportsmen must not stop at home and wait for the birds to come and be shot at, neither must fishermen throw their nets inside their boats and hope to take many fish.” Yet many of us drop our nets where no fish swim inside the sanctuary and wonder why the church is not growing.

What Are We Afraid Of?

Could it be that our quiet Christianity isn’t a mark of humility, but of fear? That we’ve become more concerned with the approval of men than obedience to God?

We fret over being labeled intolerant, fanatical, or unkind. We worry about workplace consequences, social awkwardness, or personal rejection. And so we hide. We say nothing. We assume that our polite behavior or occasional acts of kindness will somehow communicate the whole gospel.

But salvation doesn’t come by osmosis. The gospel must be spoken. “Faith comes from hearing,” Paul says, “and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Will the Church Walls Testify Against Us?

Imagine if the walls of your church could speak. What would they say? Would they praise your passion for worship but mourn your lack of witness? Would they testify that you knew the name by which men must be saved, yet rarely spoke it beyond their confines?

What of the stained glass windows? Would they weep, having filtered light in for years while the Light of the World remained hidden outside?

What of the pews? Meant to prepare and equip, did they instead lull us into complacency?

This is not merely about evangelism programs or church initiatives. This is about the posture of our hearts. It’s about whether we see the Christian life as a call to comfort or a call to mission.

Do You Weep for the Lost?

Horatius Bonar’s words pierce the soul: “We can see thousands perish around us, and our sleep never be disturbed; no vision of their awful doom ever scaring us, no cry from their lost souls ever turning our peace into bitterness.”

Do you grieve the lostness of your neighbors, classmates, coworkers, and friends? Does the reality of eternity ever shake your soul awake?

If not, ask God to break your heart for what breaks His. Ask Him for tears, for urgency, for compassion that moves you to speak.

Go Because Christ Commands It

The Great Commission was not a suggestion. Jesus, with all authority in heaven and on earth, commanded us to go. Go to the nations. Go to your neighbor. Go to the least, the forgotten, the hostile, the indifferent. There is no corner of society exempt from the call to proclaim Christ.

Some will not want to hear. That’s expected. But our responsibility is not to ensure reception it is to ensure proclamation. “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Let the Light Shine

Christianity is not meant to be a secret. Your faith is not a private accessory. It is a public declaration of allegiance to the King of Kings. And it demands expression in every sphere of life.

Take the gospel to the street, to the classroom, to the office, to the hospital, to the home. Be simple or creative, quiet or bold, subtle or overt but whatever you do, go.

Let your faith breathe outside the sanctuary. Let the Light shine beyond stained glass. And may your life proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

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