Preparing Your House

This is my last night at home before we head off to Dallas for a few days for a business trip.   While we are away, my mother and stepfather will be heading this way to bring the boys back from their 2 week vacation.  I love having houseguests….but we all know what is involved in preparing for them.  So 3 days ago we put together a list of chores and have slowly been checking them off the list.  Today was my favorite day……bathroom cleaning day.  I’m not sure why I get to have this chore (my wife says I clean better than her) but I do.  With everything now checked off the list, the last thing I will do is sweep the floors in the morning while she is dropping the dogs off at the puppy hotel for the week.

Do you know that God is also “preparing your house” for things he plans for your life?  I was reading the story of David in 1 Samuel tonight.  That kid was the smallest and weakest of his brothers.  He didn’t get to do cool things like go to war…..He was stuck at home tending the sheep.  Even though he lived what would seem an uninspiring life, God was already preparing him for great things.  He was training him to use his slingshot when predators would come to attack the flock.  He was preparing him for challenges he would eventually face later in life.  He was preparing him to, one day, become the King of Israel.

We all know the story about what happens to David…..its one of the biggest stories of the Bible.  One day his father sends him to the front lines to drop off some provisions for his brothers and the next thing you know He has accepted Goliath’s challenge for a Mano a Mano battle of the greatest proportions.  What Goliath didn’t know was that David had God on his side…God had been preparing David’s house for this moment his whole life.  As Goliath taunted David, David replied, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.  This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you (1 Samuel 17:45-46.)  You see, David may not have known what his house would eventually look like, but he definitely knew that there was a foundation in place.  He had faith in God’s prep work.

David isn’t the only houseguest God prepared for.  We are all destined to be house guests of God, if we all just accept God’s Grace that he sent down in his son Jesus.  Jesus, comforting His Disciples before His crucifixion said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-4.)”  I’m pretty sure God isn’t up there cleaning the bathrooms, awaiting your arrival, but Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection was God’s plan to prepare His house for your arrival one day.  How comforting is it to know that God has prepared a place for us to be with Him someday?

So as I get ready to head out-of-town I know my house is ready for my mother’s arrival……the unfortunate truth is that all the work we put in this week to get ready will be gone in the first hour when the boys bring out all there toys, and notebooks, and pens, and juice boxes, and apple sauces.  But when my mother first steps into the house I’m sure she will appreciate the effort we made to make her feel at home…….and those bathrooms are definitely the cleanest in town.

God has prepared his house.  He has checked off everything on his to do list.  Now all you have to do is accept His invitation.  I pray that you accept that invite.  I pray you open your hearts to see that God loves you and has prepared your room at His house since before time began.   I pray for you all to have a wonderful rest of your week and I will be back soon.