New Residents
Justin was asked the question last weekend, “What does it mean to have Christ in you?”
His answer has stuck with me, and to be honest, I may have used it against him the day after…Yup.
He shared about an image he was given on our drive to the church where he was on a panel. The image was of our house, our terribly disgusting and depressing house.
Before we moved in, the home was in terrible condition. As in things were living in it that shouldn’t have been and I doubt any of the toilets had been scrubbed in the 30 years they’d been in the home. And the sadness of the previous owner. So much loss and what could have been.
Justin was given a vision for the home, one of openess and a home full of people worshiping.
Y’all. I did not see it. Not even in the slightest. But I trust my husband…
So we removed floors, walls, paneling, carpeting, cabinets, toilets, showers, small animals, etc. You name it, we took a sledgehammer to it.
And then we started to rebuild. We cleaned and we replaced. We brought in new items and built from scratch.
The once terribly sad house became beautiful. And it is not because of the furniture or the paint color, but because of who moved into the home… my family.
So what does this have to do with Jesus living in us?
Our home became beautiful when the old was discarded and replaced with the new. When a new family moved in.
We become beautiful when Jesus mends or replaces the old and moves into our hearts.
Jesus, when He comes to live in our hearts, might have a big job ahead of Him. He might need to throw some bad habits out, repair broken relationships, replace toxic friends, build new community, establish new footings…
Justin shared, “Jesus is going to war in your heart to remove anything that goes against Him.” And thank goodness He does, because the end product is something beautiful.
That afternoon, after this glorious morning with old friends, something went sideways (hence the angry walk I went on and shared about on FB). Talking with Justin, I realized it was God wanting to open our eyes to some of the things He’s going to war against in our hearts. There are some things that are hard to give up but God is saying, “That is an old wall that needs to come down. It is time to replace it.”
The process of becoming can be hard to do because it’s a dying to oneself. I could dig in and say it wasn’t my fault, be justified in my anger, and point the finger at how everyone else is to blame. Or I can say, “Okay God, what was my part in this? Where do I need to do better? Where can my heart be softer? Where can I be kinder with my words or my tone? Where can I be more loving and grace giving?”
So my prayer the next morning was simple. I asked God to do a work in my heart. Help me be willing to have Him remove the thoughts, tendencies, habits, you name it, that don’t serve Him well or me and my family well. Help me to see the process as not one of pain or loss, but as a building of something new and improved, just like our home. Take the sledgehammer (with an oh so soft touch pretty please) and get rid of anything that is not for my good or yours.
Y’all know I love a good transformation and this one just might be the best one yet!
