Something Valuable in the Mess

 

Today I watched a video of a man who bought the contents of a house from the heirs of an estate.  They wanted to improve and sell the house, but the former owner had been, at best, a collector and,at worst, a hoarder.  After seeing the video, I'm leaning toward the second description.

In the initial tour of the house in the video, he found massive piles of things in every room, leaving no room to walk.  Everything was dust-covered, outdated, and of little value.  There was everything from clothing to sheet music to nail polish to bad artwork.  He wondered if he would find enough items of value to recoup his investment, and he had only eight weeks to totally empty this large, massively cluttered home.  

I thought how daunting a task that must be; seeing nothing but junk piled three feet or more up the walls of every room and figuring out how to go through it all and decide what was trash and what still had a use, much less what had any great value. He could have spent eight weeks moving mountains of trash and only find a few hundred dollars worth of salvageable items.  On the other hand, there could have been hidden stacks of cash, expensive jewelry, or dusty priceless antiques under all the clutter.  It would just take an enormous amount of time and effort to uncover what was valuable in the mess.

Our lives are like that hoarder's house.  We have collections of sin, guilt, rebellion, and pride.  Even though we knew it was smothering us and taking over our lives, cluttering up all our relationships, creating an unhealthy environment for us - we still kept piling bad over bad until we had destroyed any hope of living comfortably in that house.  We took the promise of a clean, empty space and turned it into chaos.  Then, along came Jesus.  He paid for the contents of that house because he knew there was something of value in us.  When we surrender the contents of our soul to Him, He cleans out all that is useless, dirty, negative, and toxic and replaces it with His righteousness.  He unearths the beautiful and priceless things He has put within us and helps us to function as we were designed to operate.  As Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made all things beautiful in His time...."

It's not just a one-time event either.  It's amazing what Jesus has done for us and continues to do in our lives.  We are initially cleansed as we are born again, and then the Holy Spirit works in our lives to sanctify us, setting us apart to be useful in the kingdom of God; reaching a level of fulfillment which we never would have dreamed possible. However, none of that happens without our consent and our cooperation.  Allow Jesus to take your messy life and find all that is valuable within you to use for the glory of God.

Just Read the Manual!

Does anyone remember using an actual camera to take pictures?  With a cell phone in every pocket, sporting a built-in camera, I don't see one-purpose cameras very often. 

I walked into our bedroom the other day and my husband, Paul, was reading from pages in a three-ring binder.  When I got closer to determine what he was studying, I saw it was the manual for his fancy camera.  We've had that camera since before we moved to Virginia eight years ago.  We read enough of the instructions initially to be able to point the camera and take a picture, review the shots on the screen, and put the memory card in the computer to upload the images we had taken.  After that, the manual was dutifully packed and moved from house to house and took up shelf-space without being examined again, at least until a few days ago.

The minute I saw what he was doing, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.  He said, "Some people treat the word of God that way. They read enough of it initially to find out how to be saved, familiarize themselves with a few inspirational Bible stories, and read enough promises to know what they can ask God to do for them.  After that, they feel like they know all they need to know to get by and they neglect the word from that point on, not even realizing how much they are missing."

Ouch!  Sometimes I neglect the Word myself, so that puts me in the category of "some people". 

I'm sure there are countless special features on this camera that could have used to improve all the pictures we've taken for the last decade.  Paul might have learned by now how to handle this camera as well as a professional photographer, but he's just now really digging into the manual.

Where could we be as Christians if we really knew the word of God?  Here's what the Word says about itself.

2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Knowing the actual word of God, not just the lyrics to popular Christian songs, is the basis for doctrine, for knowledge, for a relationship with God, and for the power of the Holy Spirit to truly flow in our lives.  If we really desire all these things in our lives, we just need to read the manual!  Only then will we know how our lives are supposed to be operated, just like that those camera instructions tell us how to use it to its full potential.