Faith Seekers, I hold something worth passing along to you.
If you've been a guest in my home, you'll recall the former "Me" wall in my office; the wall upon which I had hung my accreditations, my sheepskins, and my honorary mentions and certificates of appreciation. My "Me" wall. And one day, in stillness, it was shown to me: anyone who keeps a "Me" wall is living from the ego, with said ego on full display. Now, that seeing is a gift. It is Gnosis, not knowledge about us, but knowledge of ourselves. It invites a pause. A sacred interval provided for self-examination. A time to turn inward and ask the question that matters:
Are you living from your ego, or are you living from your heart?
I understand a physician having such a wall in his practice. It serves a purpose there. But in a home office, in a place meant for communion, for prayer, for homieness, I prefer warmth over sterility. I prefer what is living over what is framed.
So I sat with the question. I asked myself plainly: "Am I living from ego?"
And it didn't feel familiar. There was no meat on that bone. And yet, there remained my "Me" wall.
After prayer and inner reflection, it was revealed more clearly: Those framed documents were never truly about ego. They are witnesses. They are markers of spiritual, professional, and emotional progress along the Way. And as you know, such growth never ceases. We shall never achieve perfection of spiritual and emotional growth. But a witness does not need to hang on a wall to be true. Those witnesses are available to me anytime I choose to open that photo album. They have done their work. I have found something more fitting for that wall, family. Images of love, of fruit, of life lived from the heart.
For as it is written, and I think this scripture is fitting for this lesson:
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" Book of Mattai / Matthew 7:16
The Outer Temple and the Inner Temple
In the ancient wisdom, we are taught there are two temples. There is the outer temple, built by the hands of men to be seen by men. And there is the inner temple, not made with hands, where the Living One dwells.
My "Me" wall was an outer temple.
Every diploma, every accreditation, every honorary mention, every certificate of appreciation… I had placed them, one by one, as stones in that outer temple. I told myself they were just memories. However, in the Light of Gnosis, true inner knowing, will not let a man lie to himself for long. What is a wall that speaks only of "Me"? It is the ego's altar. The ego, as the old Gnostics understood, is the small self that believes it must prove its own existence. It is loud. It needs witnesses from the outside world because it has no witness on the inside.
The heart needs no such wall. The heart already knows who it belongs to.
The Witnesses That Are Not True Witnesses
This is where the teaching deepens.
When I sat in inner reflection, Ruach Ha’ Chodesh (the Holy Spirit) showed me this: Those frames are not evil. They are simply witnesses of a journey. They testify that at one time, I sought, I studied, I struggled, I grew. They are mile-markers on the road. But a mile-marker is not the destination. And if you live at the mile-marker, you have stopped traveling. We must understand this mystery: Spiritual, professional, and emotional growth never ceases in this Aeon. We will not attain perfection until the entire Kingdom come in its fullness. Therefore, to enshrine a past attainment on a wall is to say, "I have arrived." However, the Gnostic knows, we have not arrived. We are becoming.
So I asked: Do I need to see them every day to know they are true?
No. A true witness lives in you. A false witness needs to be hung where everyone else can see it. Though I took them down and placed them in an album, they are still available. They are still honored. But they no longer preside over the room. They no longer preside over me.
From Thorns to Fruit
And this brings us to the replacement. Why family photos?
It remains the question then, it is not what you hang, but what you are cultivating. The ego cultivates thorns and thistles, credentials, titles, comparisons. You cannot gather grapes from thorns. You cannot feed anyone with a diploma. The heart cultivates fruit. Love, joy, patience, long-suffering and kindness, these cannot be framed, but they can be photographed. They can be felt when you enter a room.
The scripture says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits."
No one ever looked at my "Me" wall and knew my heart. They only knew my resume. But when they see the faces of those I love, when they feel a homey-ness rather than a sterile professionalism, they know something true about where I am living from. So I leave you with this for your own self-examination: Go into your office, your home, your own inner chamber today. Look at your walls.
What have you built to prove that you are worthy?
And what would remain if all of it were taken down?
If everything that says "Me" were removed, would what is left still speak of love? That is the difference between living from the ego and living from the heart. The ego produces thorns and thistles. It seeks to be seen. The heart produces fruit. It seeks only to know and be known by the Father. Look at your own walls, both literal and within. What have you hung there for others to see? And what fruit is your life truly bearing when no one is looking?
The awakening is real; the Light is real; let us then continue upon the path of the Light, “The Way of Yehoshua,”
Pastor Mark