“We are Christ’s handiwork.” Eph. 2:10
The hardwood floors in our home are currently being sanded
to virgin wood. The end result
promises to be amazing, but before enjoying this gorgeous handiwork, we get the
privilege of living through an enormous mess… every nook and cranny of our home
covered in polyurethane dust. Furthermore, because we waited so long to begin
this project, the sanding is all the more intense, the dust deposits are twice
as thick, the stink is longer lasting, and the cleanup effort will be mammoth.
What does this have to do with my life you ask? Analogous to
refinishing wooden floors, is God’s refinishing “the rough living spaces” in
our personal life, a messy and inconvenient process. Let’s explore an example:
After years of oversight or neglect, Believer Joe-Mary recognizes
an area that is in need of a spiritual overhaul. Joe-Mary earnestly comes to
the Lord, fervently prays, and eagerly gears up for the “holy sanding”, fully entrusting
life to the Master Craftsman.
The process begins and the inevitable “grime dust” gathers
in every nook, seemingly affecting every area of life. As the dust mess gets
thicker, Joe-Mary starts to lose sight of the end result and glamorizes former conditions. As with the Israelites in the desert
after God rescued them from oppressive slavery (Ex. 16), Joe-Mary becomes
disheartened, starts to grumble, desiring to call off the whole exercise (after
all, “the disheveled floors of my life weren’t really all that bad were they?”)
It is at this juncture, Joe-Mary has a choice: Truly trust God,
the Master Craftsman, thus avail self to the Lord’s full makeover? Or trust the idea of God (Is. 29:13), and assign
ultimate trust to self by simply quitting or reverting back to what’s
comfortable? (Stated another way in the form of a personal question: Who’s on
the throne of my life, God or me? …Am I abiding in His way or my way?)
God tells us:
“Throw off your old sinful nature and your
former way of life,
which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts
and attitudes.
Put on your new nature, created to be like
God—truly righteous and holy…
Think clearly and exercise self-control.
Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ
is revealed to the world.”
(Eph. 4: 22-24; 1Pet. 1:13)
Hard process? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has
imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1Cor. 2:9
In this together. ~Much love and hugs, Shaun and Betsy
