For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
– 1 Corinthians 3:11-13
A musty odor had been coming from the vicinity of my husband’s man-cave for months.
I chalked it up to his collection of memorabilia; a menagerie of old books, records, and magazines sitting among his box of candy, a fake raccoon skin cap, and old baseball glove. Man-cave stuff. Since I only go in there for the occasion dusting and vacuuming, I didn’t think too much about it.
Then one day, we discovered the real reason for the mustiness: Rain had been leaking into our log home around a log joint. Small amounts of water had been slowly rotting the carpet from underneath for some time. The joint has been cleaned out and resealed, but now we face pulling everything out of the room, tearing up the old carpet, and replacing it with new flooring.
Sometimes it’s necessary to tear things up to get to the root of a problem and fix it.
In the case of our house, the foundation is fine. But an unknown leak in the wall had been quietly creating rot on the inside. Now we will need to invest some work into restoring the interior of my husband’s den.
God has laid a foundation of faith for believers that cannot be moved. But each of us is responsible for what we build upon this foundation. More than that, we must be ever vigilant against the leaks, small and large, that seep through our walls. They may be seemingly insignificant compromises to the integrity of our beliefs. We may not notice the damage for days, months, or years. But the rot eventually becomes evident. Then we panic when He guts out our comfortable hangouts.
Restoration will come at a price.
Christ plans to present to Himself a Bride without blemish.
For the sake of salvation, our sins were cleansed at the Cross through His sacrifice. He will present each of us spotless before Him, and for the sake of His name and our testimony, He works tirelessly to build His house, the church. No unclean thing, no rot, nor any unholiness will stand before Him. The painful process of cleansing is necessary as He perfects His temple during our journey through this earth.
One day, His dwelling place complete, He will take us to the mansions that will be ours.
How can we make the process of spiritual remodeling easier?
Trust it is Him at work.
Surrender to the process.
Understand what He is asking from you.
Actively work with Him for change.
Rejoice that He cares so much!
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