Under Construction

Under Construction

Friday, April 22, 2014
Gary Arntessoni

Under construction! That's a good way to describe our new life in Christ. God is remaking us, renewing us, bringing about in us the new creation intended for the whole world. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I have heard it said before, "God loves you just the way you are, but loves you too much to leave you that way." God's goal for us is to become more and more like Jesus.

No one needs to tell me about my brokenness and sin. I'm very aware of it. I see how it sabotages my life. But the good news is that God is remaking my life so that my brokenness is not the focal point of my story.

It's the reason Jesus came. In fact, one day when Jesus was in the synagogue he stood up to read the Scriptures. They handed him the scroll of Isaiah and he read,

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

Then he rolled up the scroll, and said to them, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And, as always, they were amazed at his words.

When Jesus read this passage he was saying, "This is why I am here." This is what I have come to do in you and in every person who will follow me.  We are all poor, blind, prisoners, in need of God's grace to set us free! It is what we have in common, and that fact calls us to patiently care and minister to each other.

  

PBPGINFWMY - Please be patient God is not finished with me yet! 

I need grace and patience because I am under construction... and so do you, for the same reason. 

What does this construction look like? Is it a makeover, a coat of paint, or clear down to the foundation?

C.S. Lewis describes it this way, "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

God is making each of us into a living house in which God himself dwells... We are under construction, and the architect is God!  And as God takes up residence in us, we have the privilege of spreading God's love and grace to every person we meet.

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”      2 Corinthians 5:17

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