The renovating power of the Spirit of God

I had lunch today with a dear friend of mine who is in the military and about to be deployed to Afghanistan. What a work God has done and is still doing in his life, and the life of his family.

As we came back to my office, we sat in his car and talked about the opportunity that God was placing before Him; he's not just going on a military deployment, but a missionary journey. I encouraged him to allow the Spirit of God to sprinkle the salt of his life on all he comes in contact with..."as he is going..."

We started talking about the process of sanctification...the work of renovation that the Holy Spirit does in the life of every believer until we close our eyes and wake up in the presence of God. I like that word...renovation. After all, I understand it well living in the home in which we live.

When we first moved in, we were so happy to have gotten our home. It really was a dream home for us, one we had desired for many months. But, we knew even before we purchased it that it would need some major renovation, although that didn't squelch our zeal to have it.

We started in the kitchen and living room. Cabinets were stripped and sanded, old wallpaper was removed only to find holes in the wall that the wallpaper had covered. New paint, new trim, new appliances...it seemed like the process would never end. Dark wood was painted light, dull walls were given new life with a new coat of paint. Windows were cleaned... and then cleaned again.

And then cleaned again.

We then proceeded to the dining room. The layers of wallpaper I removed...at least 5 layers in that room alone. New paint...new wallpaper...old fixtures polished...new ones added.

On to the downstairs bathroom...the old removed, the new put in place.

Up the stairs to the rooms less visible to the public, but essential to us. One room, one hallway, one fixture at a time, carefully, meticulously placed to make it not just a house, but a home suitable for our tastes. It was no longer us living in someone else's home...it was our home.

Five years later, we are still working on it. Project by project, detail by detail...little by little, it has become a place we call our own.

In my personal life, that has been how I have viewed the Spirit's process of sanctification in me. He has not only purchased this "house", albeit at a high price...but room by room, step by step, wall by wall and fixture by fixture, the Lord Jesus has set His residence there. Every day, the Carpenter works on me, sometimes removing walls that were misaligned or wrongly constructed...sometimes tearing down wallpaper that was used to disguise the holes in my life...sometimes just polishing the handles of fixtures that have been replaced but have become tarnished. Sometimes, He washes the windows again, and again, and again.

He owns the deed...He has the tools...He knows for what the blueprints call.

Continue to renovate me, Lord. Reconstruct my life into the piece of property that You alone can call home.