Monday, December 12, 2011

Painting My Heart A Fresh

For the last three days, I have been painting a room in the place where I work to refreshen it to make it a new office.  First off I have to admit that it has been a long time since I last painted a room and it was not at a place I worked.  Painting a room at your job is quite a different task than painting a room at home.  I wanted to be sure that I did everything as professional as possible.  Painting a room this way involves many steps.  Each one is essential to producing professional results once finished.

Working on a room at a professional level requires quite a bit of heavy work.  Painting a room involves a lot of taping, mudding, sanding, cleaning, painting primer, painting the color, and possibly painting another coat.  As I did each task, I thought about how the room of my heart looks and the work that is needed to make it fresh again.  I am sure that my heart is filled with marks, holes, scratches, cracks, and more.  I would even venture to say the walls of my heart have probably been sprayed with layers of graffiti.

Each one of these blemishes requires quite a bit of time and hard work to repair.  In Ezekiel 36:26 it says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."  To me this says that God will take the room of my heart and make it new.  Through Jesus your heart becomes as if it is new and perfect instantly allowing you into heaven through the grace of Jesus also called justification.  The Holy Spirit continues the hard work of repairing your room and to bring you into the likeness of Christ called sanctification.  This is a long process and is one that is not completed while you are alive but there is such peace knowing that the Holy Spirit is constantly working in you. 


The Holy Spirit has so much work to do in my life.  There are so many ways that I don't look like Jesus.  I am a work in progress.  I'm not even sure the Holy Spirit has made it past the mudding phase especially since I keep putting new divots in the wall.  Though I have so much farther to go in my pursuit to walk like Christ, I find peace in knowing that the Holy Spirit is not done with me yet.  I am a work in progress and everyday through the work of the Spirit I become more like Jesus.  This doesn't mean I won't have my days of absolute failure but it does mean that I will never without the saving grace of Jesus or the renewing power of the Spirit.  In these assurances, I rest.


Blessings,


Greg

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