Crunch.Crunch. The sound of my soles against the scattered debris. I manage to make it to the entrance of the house. The Door; hanging on a half broken hinge joint covered in scars from years of insult. Meticulously, I lift it aside making a way for entry. I come to an old lounge; fraying curtains and tattered carpets. Everything is worn out. The carpet is blood stained; evidence of repeated violence, hatred and injury. The curtains are blacked out completely; no light getting through into the home. In the far corner of the room, there is a wilting green plant. It’s seen the repercussions of years without water, sunshine or nutrients. Adjacent to the plant pot is a little white door. The golden door knob seems to be the only source of light in the house, resting against a nice sanded and white coloured door. If I didn’t know where I was, I would say that the door was brand new! It stood out in a house that was falling apart. Curiosity beckoned out to me, drawing me in a step at a time.
An empty room lay before me. Clean and spotless except for the cobwebs hanging from the corners of the ceiling. A chair sat in the middle of it. This was no ordinary chair, it looked like it belonged to someone of high prestige – like a throne made ready for a king. The head rest made with gold, encrusted with diamonds. The arm rests were purely gold, shaped into two lions. But something was still odd about the room. Black bin bags were lined behind the chair containing all sorts of junk: magazines, time tables, old phones, letters and an endless display of items.
“Miss! We are about to bring the house down!!” a very loud voice yelled behind me.
My search through this room came to a sudden halt as I ran through the house making a quick exit. I tried to find the Construction worker that had just alerted me but smoke was everywhere. I was semi-blinded and the smell of toxic fumes made my eyes water. Through the fog, I saw the silhouette of a man. Machines were rearing up to go; drills were poking away at the ground.
“Why is the house being broken down?” I shouted through the noise
“Because the owner finally accepted that it’s time for a renovation.” He stated calmly, with a sort of smile that expressed his contentment with the decision.
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What? What was that all about? I hear you ask. Let me explain the metaphors in the short story above. We are all born with a vacuum in our hearts. If you think of the keyhole on your door, it’s a certain shape right? You have a key designed to fit that hole perfectly which then opens it. It’s the same idea with this vacuum in our hearts. We have a hole that is God-shaped. That’s just the architecture of us human beings. This is a truth that many people don’t know till they’ve tried to fill it with a million other things. A triangular block is never gonna fit into a circular hole. That space is designed for God and He does want to fill it but often we clog it up with other things.
The little room with the white door and golden knob can be liked to vacuum in our hearts for God. If we fill it in with Junk, We displace God from his place. A room embellished with cobwebs is not fit for king, I mean really; it’s not even fit for anyone. I’m sure you would go into house that was liked that, it’s just too creepy and it shows it’s dirty and unkept.
The Little room in the story was however in a process of being cleaned out. It was clean apart from the cobwebs and bin bags. Some of the items in the bag exemplify some of the things that can take fill up our minds leaving no room for God. You can read an awful lot of junk in magazine which triggers a chain of thoughts that will probably lead you to carry out the wrong action. Timetables: we can be so busy with school, jobs or just what we have to do in the day that we are stressed up and tied down.
Letters: our conversations with people. What are we saying? Are the things coming out of our mouths pure, holy and of good report? [Philippians 4:8]. And how much time are we spending on facebook, twitter, skype, on the phone and so on?...do we talk and talk till we are so tired that we can’t say hello to God in the day?
I’m not even trying to point a finger here cos I’m included. I know how many times I’ve been on the phone for soo long that when I get off, I’m too tired to read my bible or pray so I just end up sleeping.
But we all through processes where we are cleaning out that room. We start off on the journey fine but somewhere along the line we trip up and fall. Hey! We are not perfect. The most important things is that we don’t stay down but get up and continue on the journey. You may have to clean out that space for God several times but each time confess your faith knowing who you are in Christ. You have been set free!
The green wilted plant – the Holy spirit. Who is he and what does He do? He breathes life into you [Genesis 2:7]. I like to think of him as a compass or for the very modern minds, a ‘sat-nav!’ He gives directions, guiding you into the TRUTH [John 16:13] and He reveals to us the mind of God. If you knew what God thought about what you were doing and where you are going, you’re pretty much sorted don’t you think? You wouldn’t have to second guess anything ‘cos you know His thoughts exactly.
But How does He speak to you tho? Your conscience mainly! He makes the Word of God LIVING hence why we say The Living bible. The Word of God is able to divide your soul and spirit, it can penetrate the heart; it can CHANGE you! It’s that sharp! [Hebrews 4:12]
There’s also your spirit Man which needs to grow and be nourished as well. That’s why you need to constantly read the Bible. Think of what not eating for a week could do to you. Yet often, we find ourselves not reading the Bible for days and weeks. Just Like the plant, it will start to wilt if it didn’t receive nutrients. It needs light, it needs oxygen. Ever read the bible and just felt on top of the world? Maybe because you’ve read something that’s just dispelled a dark cloud of fear and all of a sudden you can see the light and feel its warmth. It’s a breath of fresh air!
Coming back to the appearance of the house, we notice that the door is not shut properly ‘cos it’s nearly broken. It’s also got a lot of marks in it. Think of this as your heart. A half closed door would have a loop hole where anything could just be let through. And maybe it’s like that for some of us. Life never quite goes the way we plan or expect. We may have suffered from lies and betrayal, bruised by hurtful words, shattered by loss and pain and in the end we are left with scars to show for it. But it’s not the end. There is a God who can heal. He has got so much skill; like the master Cardiac surgeon he can give you a new heart. The scars may remain just as a reminder of where you’ve been and how you have progressed but without the pain. You’ll have a completely new attitude!
The black curtains represent where we are holding grudges and hardened our hearts. Unforgiveness prevents a lot of good things from reaching you. It’s the only poison that kills the giver as opposed to the receiver. It does nothing for you! It takes you further from God, you’re constantly on so-pissed.com and people want to avoid you for that; it’s like you carry a negative energy with you. Now, I’m not saying it’s easy to forgive. Trust me, it’s hard but that’s why you need God’s help to do it. Ask Him to help you and you’ll be amazed when you notice one day that no longer feel anger towards a certain person. :-)
And for the gruesome bit…not really! Lol. Blood stained carpets – our sins that warrant Jesus’s blood to be shed. So we’ve all done wrong…yeah, not a surprise. The famous saying goes “to err is human!”. We all individually struggle with different things. It’s a constant battle really. We sometimes do the things that we don’t want to do, Uncle Paul even confirms with me on this: [Romans 7:19]. We’ve probably been in that place where you confess the same sin over and over again.
I’m not in anyway saying it’s ok to do wrong, nah…it really ain’t! however when you do, please don’t just sit there and cry and feel sorry for yourself. Maybe you feel terrible and make yourself feel guilty but really? Does it work?... Don’t focus on it, it’s not gonna help you. You should focus on Jesus instead. If you spend more time confessing your faith – confessing that God empowers your life – you’ll need less time confessing your sins. We are no longer slaves to sin and through Christ we can do all things!
Ephesians 4:23 – be made new in the attitude of your minds. You make something new by renovation. Renovation is a process, it doesn’t just happen overnight. The Bible is the plumb-line for our lives. It tells us if we are a straight, integral structure or if we are skewed and about to fall off the foundation. We can evaluate our choices, decisions, thoughts and actions against the truth of God’s word.
God wants to begin that process with you today. You may Know Him already but you feel you’ve been off track lately or you may not know Him at all. IN any case, He is waiting with arms open wide to welcome you home. He wants to demolish the lies you have believed for so long, the old values you have held onto and the beliefs that have shaped your behaviour this far.
With the power of His word, He will change your mind. Every action starts with a thought. A change in your mind, will affect the way you think and therefore impact on the way you act! Once the demolition is complete, He’ll begin to renovate your life.
We all want to change, we all want to be better people. But at times it feels like you’ve come to the end of your rope. You just don’t know what to do from here and your life feels out of control. But there’s Hope! We have hope in Christ [1 Timothy 1:1] The fact that God sent a saviour means we need one. He wouldn’t just waste energy or effort on things that are unnecessary.
The question now is: Would you accept His invitation? Are you willing to allow this renovation take place in your life?
...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)
