TARDIS people

I like a good analogy.  Something that I can understand about one subject parallels something of another subject, and it helps me better understand or get a clearer mental picture.  An analogy doesn’t prove that something is true; it just contributes to comprehending and appreciating it.

Recently I read this statement by a Christian: “my heart is too narrow.”  I knew what he meant and felt the same way.  Then I thought about it and wondered, well just how big should my heart be?  How big can it be?  How big is my inner being (my soul, spirit, heart – whatever you may call it)?  Then I thought, well it ought to be the biggest thing about me.  If I am created to be an image of God, and if I am being conformed to the image of Christ, my heart ought to be the biggest thing about me.  Yeah, we humans are in fact bigger on the inside than the outside.

If you know to what the title of this article refers, then you already know the analogy I’m going to share.  It comes from the British science fiction stories about Dr. Who.  Dr. Who is a Time Lord who travels through space (the entire universe) and time (past or future) in a vehicle called the TARDIS (an acronym from the phrase “Time And Relative Dimension In Space”).  Because of its “dimensional transcendentalism” the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than the outside.  From the exterior, it looks like a British police call box, which is about the size of the old style American phone booths (like Superman used for changing his clothes).  It’s like a small free-standing closet.  But the interior is huge with a large control center, multiple rooms, a massive engine, and a vast computer system.  See the ACTUAL! photographs below.  It’s physically impossible for something to be bigger on the inside than the outside, but this feature of the TARDIS is explained as its interior existing in a dimension different than the exterior, thus its “dimensional transcendentalism”.  (All of this is properly documented at https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/TARDIS.)

That’s the analogy I thought of when I realized how big my heart can be.  Humans are bigger on the inside – the spirit, the inner being – than the outside, or at least we have that potential.  There is more to us than what you can see from the outside.  I am not saying that the physical part of us is evil and that we should reject it; I am not saying we should try to transcend or escape our bodies.  God made us physical creatures and we will always have the body – no problem there.  What I am saying is the physical, biological part of us is not all there is to us.  We are more than skin and muscle and blood, more than chemicals and neurons and DNA.  In fact, the material is not the greatest part of us.

So, what life is all about is more than physical.  The meaning of life is bigger than what can be learned, accessed, and experienced physically.  There is more to be and to do than what the material dimension of a human can attain and allow.  There is a bigness to living, to meaning, to purpose, to thriving that will be actualized only when we live from the inside.  We must see the truths that govern within and from within the inside of us.

Some things seem small, even some things that are seen or heard in the Bible.  At first they might  appear restrictive, restraining, and limiting.  But there’s more to it than what you can see from the outside; it’s bigger on the inside.  I have put together a list of few examples, written in couplets.  The first statement in each couplet is an idea that seems small; the second expresses the bigness of the idea. I am not saying the first statements are wrong or bad, just that they don’t reveal all there is to it.  Some of the statements are direct quotes from the Bible and some are summaries or paraphrases.  You can think of the first statements in the pairs as the outside of the TARDIS and the second statements the inside.  I am not going to “explain” the couplets; I hope you will take the time to think through, pray through, and even study through to their meanings.

Humanity was made of the dust of the earth.

God breathed in the breath of life.

If you do not obey the law, the commands and statutes and ordinances, of the Lord, you will be subject to judgment and punishment. 

“That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil... and defile the man,” said Jesus.

The gateway to life is small and narrow, and few people find it.

Christ dwells in your heart by faith.

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

Through Jesus we all have access to the Father by one Spirit.

We worship on this mountain but the Jews say we must worship in Jerusalem (a Samaritan woman told Jesus).

Actually real worship will be done in spirit and in truth, not just in a place (Jesus replied).

Christ has supremacy; he is Lord, ruler, king over all.

Since you are raised with Christ, set your hearts and minds with him. (Is this our "dimensional transcendentalism"?)

You suffer distress and grief in all kinds of troubles and trials.

With faith in Jesus, you are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy.

We are more than physical, biological, and psychological urges, desires, dreams, needs, and appearances.  Our life with Jesus, our experiences of faith and obedience and purpose and  mission, can only be real and meaningful if it’s rooted within the inner person.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that what we have in Christ is not just religious assent and practice.  It is deeply, spiritually personal.  So what matters is for us to focus on the interior of God’s making of us.  There is and there can be so much more there than the exterior life.

No matter what’s going on outside – a pandemic, whatever political regime holds power, the economic system that’s in place, your personal condition (accident, disease, aging, unemployment, poverty, persecution, etc.) – you can have life, joy, and hope inside.  You can accomplish lasting work and influence and blessing to others and even to the world.  The outside is not big enough to take away the life that God in Christ puts in your soul.

I would like for you to read Psalms 42 and 43. The writer was having a tough time with things that were happening outside him.  This was affecting him within, so he intentionally focused his attention on his soul and his God.  Reading what he wrote may help you do the same.

This from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food

day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;

therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep

at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

have gone over me.

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock:

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

As with a deadly wound in my bones,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

against an ungodly people,

from the deceitful and unjust man

deliver me!

For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.