Explosions, Repairs and Replacements

Some of you know that recently, a house near ours was blown up due to a natural-gas leak. It was not the most fun experience Joanne and I have ever gone through, but we are grateful to God for surviving it and being able to move on. The engineers have been here, and they say that, although the house is sound, some areas will
have to be rebuilt, and it will be a process, not an event. Oh, joy!


Some things on our property were knocked out of their proper alignment. The engineer measured and compared the walls and roof to a true standard of "square, level, straight and plumb (vertical)." Some parts of the property will have to be torn down and completely rebuilt in a better form. Others are not as badly damaged but will have to be taken apart and put back together before they are sound and liveable again. It's inconvenient, and the process will take months. And we won't be able to do it ourselves -- we are just unable -- so the professionals will have to do it for us.

Just like this house and garage, you and I are not fully aligned to the true standard, the "image of God" in which we were originally created. Jesus, through his perfect life and ministry, gives us back our restored image, as a free gift; but some of our old habits and our thinking still need reforming. Our emotions, thinking, and habits need to be examined carefully, comparing them to Jesus -- the only "square, level, straight and plumb" person who ever lived. Our lives need to be adjusted into alignment with Christ, or completely torn down and rebuilt to his righteous standard. It's messy and requires us to submit to Jesus, the Master Builder, because we just can't do it.

Rom. 12:1-2 says "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." This describes exactly what I'm speaking of, that we must be re-formed and we must totally surrender ourselves to the process. 

To "know God's will" is also a process, and to learn that will together as a spiritual community means paying close attention to the Holy Spirit and to each other. We'll keep talking about that as we go forward.