Home Improvement

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend and that your week is off to a running start.

Over the last few weeks our family, with the help of many friends, has been working on remodeling several rooms in our home. As we renovate each room the landscape of the room changes. Furniture is removed, cracks in the wall are opened up and cleaned out in preparation for repair, woodwork is taped over and the order of the home is turned upside down. To walk into our home right now, you would observe a hodge-podge of paint brushes, drop clothes, sheetrock, plaster repair compound and paint.

Life can be this way sometimes as well. When God determines that a room of our life needs some renovation things can go topsy-turvy. I find that there are many times God has to remove the “stuff” from a room in my life. Once the contents of the room are removed He sets out to repair the damaged walls. This often requires further exposure of the blemished area. These times can be painful. Things that we cling to are taken away from us. Areas that we don’t want God to pry into, He exposes:

Hebrews 4:13 (NLT)

Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.

Once the flaws are exposed God begins the loving process of repair and remodeling.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

The damaged areas are filled in with the truth of His word and the presence of the Holy Spirit. God begins to refine our life so that we become a more accurate reflection of His glory. The room of our life that was once riddles with sin, guilt and selfish desires now reflects the perfect touch of the Master’s hand. When we see the change we are left awestruck, hardly recognizing this to be the same room of our life that was there before.

Perhaps today you find yourself in the middle of a time of inner remodeling. Trust God’s movement in your life. Know that even though He has removed the furnishings and is making repairs, in the end your life will shine.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl