NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

July 31 - God's at home with you

Scripture focus: But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us--an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! Romans 8:9-17 (The Message)

I remember hearing many a sermon challenging me to make my heart a place where God's Spirit could feel at home. I actually liked these messages. They gave me a sense of direction, a path to trod. But inevitably, I'd find my commitment to housecleaning diminishing, and soon I'd be right back at that low-lying black cloud living place.

One of the lowest, blackest days of my life was the moment I realized that I'd never ever be able to clean my house well enough to provide an appropriate home for the living Lord.

But then something really neat happened; I came to an understanding about God that was much bigger than my shame about myself. Somehow -- through continued study, prayer, community and defeat -- the Lord taught me that housecleaning was his department. My job was to be willing to invite him in.

God's Spirit, living in me, taught me that I don't owe him a do-it-yourself life. He isn't asking me to redouble my efforts and clean the corners of my life out with a toothbrush and a bucket of strong detergent. God's Spirit beckons. It cries out and invites me to receive a resurrection life from God. He'll show me who I really am. Both good times and hard times are part of the process. The hard times are not meant has an indictment and instruction to get busy cleaning. The good times are not meant to stir up feelings of arrogance and complacency. In all times, we are called to trust God. May today be a sweet time of fellowship as we all put down our scrub brushes and ask, "What's next, Papa?"

Recommended reading: Jude

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