I have two houses on the same property
One is newer than the old house
But it is not new
The newer house is a fixer
It has good bones
Good bones but much to do
It has been a process of much labor and money
Many different contractors have contributed to its healing process
The wood stove is its main source of heat
The chimney pipe did not have a crown,
so the rain came down and it was unsafe
as embers could have sparked a fire
The wood stove didn’t work all that well as its air flow had been obstructed
That was impossible to see until it was removed
The well pump froze twice my first week there
The electrical wires were strewn all over the place
The people before had split the dryer wire
to use it for a strange looking heater they put in the ceiling
There were greenish bugs that flew around
One day I counted 15 on the window trying to get out
after they had somehow found their way inside
You get the picture
It needed a lot of work
Some contractors were good and some were not
I was taken advantage of
and useless or shoddy work was done that had to be remedied
Others were stellar and I shall never forget them
and will always be thankful for them
The newer house seemed like a Christian
who needs a lot of ongoing, painstaking work
I think if we are all honest,
we could easily liken ourselves to the newer house
The older house is much worse
It has no foundation
Some of the windows are broken or removed
It has at least one family of squirrels living in it
All the ceiling insulation is hanging down, some has fallen all the way down
The floor is caving in in several places,
not safe to walk on or you may fall through the floorboards
The siding is falling off outside
It is considered a tear-down by many who have seen it, including myself
One contractor went inside and he saw the potential:
If you want a guest house or a good storage place,
it will be a lot cheaper to redo this one than to build another one
I started to see the potential
The ideas he shared started to take shape
I think of the older house as a metaphor of an unsaved person,
someone who needs a lot of work but who is worth putting time into
maybe like we once were or maybe still are
We’re talking about our spiritual selves now,
those selves that are considered holy temples of the Lord
The older house has much work to do and many hours
and days and weeks and months of work ahead
but not a total loss, just needs a lot of work
While our sins are washed away by faith at our asking,
sometimes we do not see things the way God sees them,
we have difficulty seeing the ugliness of our flesh
because we live in a natural world and many seem worse than we do,
our desires are what our eyes see and what our ears hear
That can be such a difficult bridge to cross if people are semi-good already
That one contractor saw potential in a throw-away world,
similar to God seeing a soul to snatch from world
maybe the ones who seem worthless to others
but with some effort and agreement with the Lord,
they could become spiritual treasures for the Lord to dwell in
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:48-49