Recently, I woke up on a Saturday morning around 2:30 am to the sound of someone taking a shower. Who showers at 2:30 in the morning? Still half asleep, it took me a few minutes to gather myself to check who was in the bathroom at such an odd hour. To my surprise, I found that no one was there. The sound was coming from downstairs where there was water pouring from the ceiling onto the kitchen floor. I went upstairs again to check another bathroom; I discovered several inches of water on the bathroom floor. Our house will soon be a construction site - an unexpected disruption to a home that was just prepared for Christmas joy.
An angel disrupted Mary and Joseph's lives with the news that Mary would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. While this was wonderful news, it was also a significant disruption, and their lives would never be the same. When Christ enters our lives, it often brings a significant disruption. He is Lord of our lives, and as we are no longer on the throne; things need to change. We are under construction.
Personally, I don’t like having to change my routine because of the renovations happening around me—I prefer things to remain the way they were. We often resist change, but if we seek the Lord and listen for His voice, it becomes clear that something must change. However, some people choose a different path, creating a version of God who never asks them to change. This mindset is often referred to as "cheap grace," as if the reconciling work on the cross cost nothing. It is a perception of God as an overly indulgent parent who never disciplines their child.
If Jesus has entered your life, you are under renovation. Unlike a house, the renovation and reconstruction never truly ends until the Lord completes his work and we leave our earthly home. It is both an "already" and "not yet" situation. Christ has come, and scripture reminds us, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This transformation is a process; although the old has passed and the new has come, it is not yet complete. "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
When we decide to follow Jesus, we should understand what that entails. In Luke 14, Jesus tells a pair of parables, asking, "Who builds a tower and does not consider whether he can finish it?" (In other words, can you afford to follow Him?) Then the next parable he says, “When someone goes to war against a superior army, you should ask for terms of peace.” (In other words, can you afford not to follow him?) He is the LORD, and without Him, we are nothing. Being under construction is indeed the best option.
The Lord is gracious and the perfect loving Father, and we should welcome this process because we know He is transforming us to be more like Him. Through daily perseverance in our imperfect lives, we progressively renovate ourselves into the perfect image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). We come to appreciate who we are becoming. The renovation of my house has made me realize the need for renovation in my heart, as I have noticed irritations and annoyances surfacing. I am grateful for that disruption because it draws me closer to Him as he renovates my heart.
