I have a confession to make. I am an idolater. And this is a picture of my idol.
I really thought I had matured beyond this paganism, that by studying and practicing Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount I had moved to a higher plane of spirituality. Maybe I thought I had achieved a sort of “Christian gnosticism”, where material things are bad and have no hold on me.
Nope.
As I am making the move to Virginia, I am leaving behind this beautiful dream house. It sits in a pleasant neighborhood, nestled between a kid-infested cul-de-sac and a wooded stream. Five years ago my wife prayed her Proverbs 31 woman prayers for the perfect house – and God dropped it in our laps. We have used it for His kingdom – reaching out to neighbors, opening it up to countless meetings of our journey group, and filled it with our children’s friends.
It has been a good house, and we were very, very thankful to God for it.
But now that it has come time to move, I am holding on to it. God, in His humorous, gut-wrenching way, led us to move at the literal bottom of the housing market. We have not yet sold it, and when we do, we may lose money. So not only do we have to let go of it, we may get slapped on the way out.
I think God is ok to let us grieve a little bit, like a dad taking away an old toy from a child. But it has disappointed me that I have been so clingy to a building filled with so much stuff. I’m not feeling guilty because God has blessed us with gifts, but I do want to mature to the point where I can cheerfully put it back in His hands.
He is good, He loaned us His house to enjoy for five years, and now He wants it back. We are praying first that He brings the right family to live in it, that He can bless with the wonderful neighbors that surround us.
So as I take a break from loading boxes, here are some verses that are helping me tear down my idol…
1. I don’t need to worry about what house I live in…
Matthew 6:19″Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
2. All the material stuff I cling to is gonna burn someday!
2 Peter 3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
3. Christ is setting up a much better living arrangement for me…
John 14:1″Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Today, John is reminding me, “little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
3 Comments
June 5, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I knew you would become wiser by going to the “burg”. But feel free to leave me anything you cannot fit on the truck as you leave
June 5, 2008 at 8:39 pm
You even had a fire hydrant! Wow… This is right out of the Truman Show. Dip your kids in water to make sure they’re not animatronic.
June 6, 2008 at 1:22 pm
While Chris and the kids were still here wrapping up school it wasn’t like you had moved yet, more like you’re out of town on business.(kingdom work for you). But I know that today you are finishing up loose ends and tomorrow you will really be moving almost 500 miles away! There is finality in that. Now the mourning will begin. Your insight has shed so much light on scripture for me these last 8 years as our hometeam/journey group leader. The bantering and comroderie will be sorely missed. This life lesson on obediance to God’s calling will be remembered by us all but more importantly by God himself. I pray He blesses you, Chris, Nathan, Carissa and Abbie for all are sacrificing in their own way. Love ya, The Laws
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