I love home renovation shows. It’s fun to see an out-of-date house stripped to its studs and built back up with shiny new appliances, modern furniture, and fresh paint. I love to watch with my husband so we can take notes on designs and styles we would want to include in our future home.
There is a saying often used on these home improvement shows, and I’ve found it rings so true — a house is made of up of the four walls surrounding you, but a home is made up of the people and love found inside.
Scripture tells us that our body is a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). When we allow Jesus into our hearts, we are providing Him a dwelling place, a place to reside. Essentially, we are His house. Our hearts are the four walls (two ventricles?) in which Christ has chosen to live. Will it stay a house, or are we taking the time to make it a home?
Imagine Christ is coming to your house for a visit. As any good daughter of an Italian mother and grandmother, the first thing I would decide is what I would be feeding Him (obviously), but my very next move would be to clean. I need to make sure the carpet is vacuumed, the dishes are washed, the tables are dusted, my belongings are put away. I can’t let Jesus see the messes I tend to make. I want Him to feel comfortable so He’ll stay for a while and want to come back.
How comfortable is Jesus in our hearts today? Have we taken the time to dust away the doubt? Put away the hate? Wash away the stubbornness? Can he find the joy, forgiveness, faith we have stored there? Is there enough love in our hearts to make Jesus feel at home?
Just like our physical houses, our hearts sometimes need a good cleaning. We need to be aware of its condition and then make sure we are feeding the good while cleaning out the bad. After all, it is Jesus’ home and, if we let Him, He’d love to plant roots and stay awhile.
This article has undergone ministry review and approval.
Amen Sister. What a great article. So many thoughts going through my mind. I would like to make my home (my heart) a place where JESUS will always stay because HE will always welcome. I also believe that once JESUS enters in, HE helps with all the chores of keeping the house clean and welcoming. Now I know what GOD, kept having me to go #89 in The Songs of Zion yesterday. “Is there anyone will to let JESUS In?”
#89. IS ANYONE WILLING TO LET JESUS IN?
There’s a sound that’s been heard thru the ages of time,
And that same sound’s still knocking at your heart and mine.
And that same voice still cries, “I have come to abide,
Is there anyone here that will let Me inside?”
Jesus weeps while He waits, would you bid Him depart?
Hear the voice of the Spirit that speaks to your heart.
“I have come from the cross, would you turn Me away?
Is there anyone here that might want Me to stay?”
Just a page from the past, from the annals of time,
Reaching down to the present, to your day and mine.
With that same voice still calling the children of men,
“Is there anyone here that would let Me come in?”
Hear the voice still repeating the same from the start,
“My Father has sent Me to enter your heart,
I have knocked thru the years, thru the dark nights of sin,
If there’s anyone home, please, I’d like to come in.”
CHORUS:
Throw the door open, Jesus wants to come in.
He will bring you salvation, He will save you from sin.
Hear that small quiet tapping, and that same voice again,
Is there anyone willing to let Jesus in?
©1984 Arlene Lea Buffington
*feel welcomed
Dusting out the doubt right now!! Beautiful!