(okay, it wasn’t quite this bad!)

When I was 18, my good friend Tyler and I bought a house together. It was a fourplex in a ghetto area in need of some serious renovations.  We had big dreams of turning a huge profit.  Dreams alright!  I have many memories of Emerald Street…very few are good ones, but at least we learned some valuable lessons about screening renters!

I think our lives in Christ are alot like a renovating an old house.

Alot of us came into it assuming that everything would be perfect.  That we’d never struggle.  That we’d never have bad days.  That all our problems and bad habits and sins would just disappear.  But they didn’t.  Just because Jesus adopted us doesn’t make us perfect kids.

Just because the ownership of a house has changed doesn’t mean the condition has changed.

Hard work is required to renovate.  We gotta clear out the junk.  Bring light to the darkest corners and closets.  Maybe call in a fumigator or rat control.  Sometime we need to reshape and reposition things.  We all need a thorough cleaning.

We’re freed, but not fixed.

Don’t lower your expectations for what a life in Christ is supposed to look like- just change your paradigm.  Realize that life is a journey, life is a process.  It takes time and effort and lifechange.

Just remember- He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Jay

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