We recently completed a home improvement project–replacing the flooring in our bedroom and bath and installing a new pantry and linen cabinet.
My husband, admiring the finished product, said, “This is nice. I’m not used to things not being under construction.”
Slight exaggeration, but partly true. Until a few years ago, every house we’ve ever lived in has needed work. Or maybe we just enjoy being “fixer-uppers.”
We can always look at something and see ways to improve it. (Sometimes I come up with such big ideas that I keep them to myself, knowing it’s way more than we want or need to tackle.)
Life’s like that, too. It’s always under construction. God looks at my life and, no doubt, sees lots of ways He can improve me. Of course, I see a few things that need fixing, and I know it’s only with His help that I’ll get better.
As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life (Romans 6:4, GW).
When we make the decision to follow Jesus with our whole heart, God begins the reconstruction from the inside out. It’s a lifelong process, but a necessary one:
Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you (Ephesians 4:24, MSG).
I pray I never become complacent but continually look at my life and ask God what parts of me He wants to renovate. This side of Heaven, I will always be “under construction.”
