New Home Construction

Today I read these words from Paul's letter to the church in Ephesis:
      Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit. (2:22)

So we are Christ's construction projects.  Christ is making us dwellings for God to inhabit.
In most our cases this is  remodeling and renovation work.  Sometimes dwellings have to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Such is the work of Christ in us!

I think we would all live differently and more fully alive if we continually reminded ourselves that we are Christ's construction projects.

Charles Wesley catches to message of Paul's words in the hymn, "O Come and Dwell in Me":
                      O come and dwell in me, Spirit of power within,
                      and bring the glorious victory from sorrow, fear and sin.
                                   UM Hymnal #388, verse 1

The journey we are on is a construction project of the work of God grace!

God Has Not Left the House

I was in a restaurant today.  On the wall was a parking sign reserved for Elvis Presley.  My first reaction was "Elvis has left the house."  As I thought about this later, I realized that "leaving the house" is not something I/we could say about God.  God does not leave the "house" for in Jesus Christ, God has committed himself to be with and for the whole of the creation.

As I read Mark's account of Jesus' baptism, I heard the words addressed to Jesus also addressed to me/to all of us:  You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.

I reconsidered how God takes delight in us, even when our lives are not very delightful to him, when our lives and our choices bring God to tears.  Yet God is committed to us.

             "My dearest daughter, fondest son,
              My weary folk in every land,
              your souls are cradled in My heart,
              your names are written on My Hand"

              Then praise the Lord through faith and fear,
              in holy and hopeless place,
              for height and depth and heaven and hell
              can't keep us far from His embrace.
                                   Celtic Daily Prayer, pg. 305

May we live with the assurance that God has not and will not leave the house!