As I’ve spent entirely too much
time painting rooms this week, I find encouragement in the fact that
when God makes us new creations, He doesn’t just patch a few holes
and throw on a fresh coat of paint. His work won’t have to be
redone in a few years, but at the same time He will continue
renovating us throughout this life. C.S.
Lewis writes in Mere
Christianity:
“Imagine
yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At
first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting
the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you
knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But
presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts
abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He
up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house
from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting
on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You
thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is
building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
It is encouraging to know that one
day we will no longer have any cracks, blemishes, or weaknesses, but
the process of getting there may not be quite what we expect. As
Lewis says, it hurts to have our facade ripped off to reveal the
structural damage underneath. We’d be content for awhile to just
cover everything up with a nice paint job, but eventually the real
problems have to be fixed. And often God sees problems that we don’t
even know about. When He starts poking around in the shadows, it can
make you question the decision to trust Him as Lord.
We’re just temporary tenants in
this body, but He is the landlord. This is a frequent theme of the
Apostle Paul:
- “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV).
- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
- “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).
- “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling” (2 Corinthians 5:1-1).
The more years that go by, the more
anxious I am to be done with the groaning of this life (and manual
labor adds a few groans!). The day is coming when all of God’s
renovating work will be completed and we will get to enjoy His
perfect creation for eternity. Until then, I hope and pray that I
will be a willing participant in whatever renovations He wants to do
in my heart, soul, and mind. He certainly knows what is needed far
better than I do.
“Now may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body
be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who
calls you is faithful; He will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians
5:23-24).
