A God Sized Remodel

Martha and I acquired a little house in the middle of small-town, mid-west America recently. The place is 125 years old and drew us in immediately with its quaint appearance and excellent location. But here’s the funny thing about old houses: they look great on the outside, but they usually need A LOT of fixing on the inside.

Ever since iWork4Him launched, we have used Romans 12:2 as our team verse.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

You and me… we’re a lot like my old house. Our lives might look pretty good on the outside, but the inside is full of broken, malfunctioning, outdated things. But when we give our lives to Christ, God does a full inspection of the interior of us and prepares for a complete remodel on our hearts, minds, and souls. Just like Martha and I had to rip out the old plumbing, sewer, and electrical in our old house, God dismantles all of the bad connections, wiring, and plumbing inside of our minds and replaces them with brand-new, more effective versions.

This internal remodeling process is a lifelong venture – one that God will be doing until our very last day on this earth. I don’t mind it, but sometimes the remodeling projects on my heart, mind, and soul take a little longer than I think they should. It can be tiring to be a work in progress, but take heart: no matter what the pace, God IS transforming you. The work of the Holy Spirit is perfect and purposeful, and He is building in you qualities and characteristics that will reflect Him to everyone you come into contact with.

Take a few moments to do a self-evaluation today. Is God actively remodeling something in you? If not, is there something that you need to allow him access to?

Have a great week and enjoy working on your next personal remodeling project.

Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

How Do YOU Measure Up?

Top down vs bottom up

I was working on a home project the other day that involved drilling a hole through the kitchen cement wall to the outside patio. I carefully planned out the project, including the decision to drill from the outside in, to minimize the dust and cleanup in the house. I measured more than twice to drill in the exact spot I had to hit in the kitchen. I measured from the ground up inside and outside and also used the window sill as a reference to make sure I had it perfect. Then, I began the tedious job of drilling and using my sledge hammer & chisel to get through the 12 inch thick cement. I pounded, chiseled and drilled for over 4 hours before deciding to go to a big box home store and purchase a $23 - 12” cement drill bit to finish the task. I drilled the rest of the way through the wall and guess what? I missed the mark by over 2”…! Why?

I measured from the ground up instead of from the top down. The floor inside is over 2” higher than the floor outside. Back to the store I went, to purchase cement patch to fix the huge stinking hole and start over. This time I drilled from the inside out and was through the wall in 7 minutes.

Where did I go wrong? I used the wrong reference point.

How often in life have we made decisions with the wrong reference point as well? Decisions made from the bottom up use our wisdom and our perspective. Decisions made from the top down use God’s wisdom and God’s perspective. He has the perfect solution to the issues we are facing.

Lesson Learned? Always start with our Father. He has given us Holy Spirit to help with all our decisions and perspective - even construction projects at home.

Heavenly “Top Down” measuring always delivers the solutions we need and we won’t have to patch the ridiculous (damage) hole afterwards.

Proverbs 3:5-6

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!