At my house we've been in the process of remodeling the kitchen for the last several weeks. This was not just a little updating, it was a full "gut it" situation. As of Monday I still didn't have a sink. But we are finally back together enough that I am beginning to put things away. While I have much more space now than I did before, it is an almost completely different configuration. I have more drawers of different sizes and in different places. My cabinets are different dimensions. The shelves are adjustable! It is wonderful... It is also kind of disorienting. You see, I had adapted myself to the structure and strictures of my old kitchen. I sort of "made" things fit, or winged it... And to quote my oldest, "it didn't make sense". Pots and pans of similar shape and size were in four different stacks in three different cabinets. Whisks were in one drawer while whisk attachments were in another drawer across the room. Some of the serving spoons were with the flatware, but the rest were next to the stove. And while I expect there to be some minor adjustments to the overall organization over time, my preference is to find homes for things and then they live there forever. So I stack and shift and think... then I shift and restack and step back to examine...
As I was working through this process some more early this week, I was struck by its similarity to sanctification. As unbelievers we are who we are, with sin all woven through everything. Then Christ comes in and "guts" our hearts of the old structures, and puts in structures consistent with his character and purpose. Suddenly we find that all our stuff doesn't fit like it used to. Maybe it needs a new home with lower priority. Maybe it needs to move up on the priorities list. Maybe it is just no longer consistent with who you are, because you are now in Christ, and it has to be thrown out. It is tedious. It requires intentional, focused thought. It can be disorienting. But in the end, the difficulty, the struggle, the pain, will not be worth comparing to the glory of living in Christ's presence for eternity!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:1,12-17
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see destruction.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:5-11
