12/26/2024
As we begin to prepare our homes for Christmas celebrations, how many of us will be inviting guests to stay and eat in our homes, gather around our tables for a meal, or watch a movie, a football game, or the latest Disney+ or Netflix movie?
When we invite people into our home, we prepare for the occasion. We clean, and my wife puts out our best decorations, unique towels, placemats, and candles. It's just beautiful!
But how many of us lock certain rooms where we don't want people to go? We don't want them to wander into our child's room because it's an absolute mess, and we are embarrassed by the condition in which we have allowed them to take over that once immaculately decorated and sorted room. In our home, it's the office with stacks of paper cluttered everywhere.
Or we shut the door to the bedroom because we don't want them to see how we live our lives every day.
We all have doors to a mess, and we keep them closed.
We all have rooms in our lives that we would rather no one see.
It's exhausting when we strive to hide certain areas of our lives, afraid of what others will think.
But..
When we invite Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit takes up residence and makes his home in us. 2 Timothy, vs. 14. Think about that. He already knows what is shoved under the bed or closet or lying in full view on the floor.
Better yet, when He is invited in and allowed to have full reign in our lives and dwell in us, every room and every locked door will be open, so the mess that we need to be cleaned once and for all will be cleared permanently!
The very rooms of our life that you have locked away are the same rooms He desires to reside in. Why? Because he is the only one who can make it new and clutter-free.
When we allow Him to dwell in those rooms, he will clear away every undesirable mark on the wall and remove the skeletons from the closet, and whatever monsters are lurking underneath the bed will be no more.
So this season, before we celebrate, prepare your heart.
Invite the One who helps us prepare our hearts and minds to make every space clean and new so we can share that Truth with others.
Make room for the Savior in your heart, and your home will flourish with love for others.
Allow His Holy Spirit to fully and completely reside in your heart, mind, and soul.
Give him full reign in every room, every closet, and every space in your life.
His table is being prepared for you and me to join Him. He invites you to open the door and let Him in.
