Matthew 12
He may come quietly. He may come gently. But He never comes weakly. He never comes only partway.
And there’s no receiving Him partway. There’s no following Him half time.
He does not come to justify all the things you like about yourself. He is not here to show you how you have been right all along, and everyone else is wrong. It’s all wrong, you included—maybe you most of all. It’s all wrong, and he’s not here to clean house but to empty it completely.
He’s here to drag out everything that makes you comfortable. All those little things you stuff away, the things you love? Especially those. He wants them out. Be careful. When His kingdom comes, it comes all the way. It opens all the windows, scours the corners.
It hurts, all right. But if you let Him in, let Him pull all that stuff of yours out into the sunshine, you’ll see it for what it is. (It’s kind of shabby.) And then, if You let Him, He will move into the empty spaces and take up residence. He will fill it. Your home will be known by His presence.
You have to let Him in, though. It’s possible to let Him do all that cleaning out, to be emptied, and to close the door against Him. But when you close the door to Jesus, you open it to something else. Something will move into that emptiness. You may find yourself living with your enemy, and he may come back stronger than ever.
No matter what you think you look like, your home is known by who lives in it, just as a tree is known by its fruit. If you try to let Jesus in only partway, then He isn’t really home, is He? And neither are you.
It might be time to stop looking into everyone else’s windows and start opening yours. It might be time for some painful renovations. I know; it is hard to trust that when He takes all those comforts you love, He really does have something better. But aren’t you tired of your kingdom? Aren’t you, maybe, ready for His?
It starts with you. What do you want to be known for? Let Him in. He never says it will be easy, but He does say it will be good.
View from the Valley 