COMPANY'S COMING
Our little church has been busy lately. Oh, don't get me wrong, we're always busy. Too busy, in fact, but then who isn't these days? Last Saturday was our annual Spring Cleaning day. This time around we focused on the educational building (we have two buildings). We did windows and swept, and tossed out, and organized and washed. Basically, we gussied up.
On Tuesday, Hartley, a buddy of mine, helped (translation: did most of the work) me put up our new church sign. Thing is we've had the sign for a while now, but just haven't made the time to install it. The sign is beautiful. Lots of colour - bright blues, yellows, bold contemporary letters and a great picture. The sign was designed by Tim Hatt, a member of our congregation. It depicts three crosses up on a hill illuminated by a bright light bursting forth from the open tomb on another hill. At the bottom of the sign is the theme verse for our congregation: "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." (2 Corinthians 4:5) I love it!
Yesterday, I painted the church steps. It was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to get out of the routine and do something different. Things are looking much better around here now, not that they looked that bad before. Nevertheless, I am glad that we've put the extra effort into cleaning and maintaining the property the Lord has entrusted into our care. What is the motivation for this extra effort, at least on my part? We have company coming!
This Sunday is our turn to host the Fifth Sunday Rally. In every month that has five Sundays, the churches of Christ in our province get together for a special time of worship and praise. So, while the cleaning and spiffing would have been done anyway, this time around, we've put a little more effort into the cause and done a few things that have been on our "to do" list for awhile.
Lets face it, we all like to put our best foot forward when company comes for a visit. Whenever my mom, or Sheila's parents come to stay with us, we put a little more elbow grease into the house to make it that much nicer. Everyone, even those with a less stringent housekeeping code, go out of their way to present their home in the best possible light for visitors. We corral those dust bunnies and straighten up the clutter. We check under the furniture for lost toys and children, and even check in the treacherous regions found under the cushions in the sofa for the lost remote controls and evolving life forms. Thing is, when the company leaves, the household returns to a somewhat more relaxed lifestyle. Why? Because it takes effort and time to maintain a high standard and without the extra motivation that company provides, our efforts and time are diverted elsewhere.
Ok, so what's the point?
In a spiritual sense we are to keep our lives "gussied up" all the time. We are to always maintain a high standard. We are to be ready for a visit from Jesus. In Matthew 24:44, Jesus said, "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."The best way to be ready is to live each day as if this will be THE day that Jesus returns. Thing is,that's hard to do, it takes effort and time. We all let things clutter up our relationship with the Lord. We get distracted by life and let spiritual dust bunnies find their way into the corners of our heart.
Truth is, we can get used to a lot of things, and our standards can begin to drop. Some days we are very unprepared for His return! We have to guard against the tendency of letting things slide by, continually placing our lives in contact with the body of Christ. The power of fellowship with other Christians is the motivation we need to keep our hearts gussied up. We need to continually seek that motivation by inviting other believers into our heart for a visit. It's the best way I know to keep the spiritual dust bunnies away!
Prayer
Lord God, help us to be ready! Help us to remember that you are always a visitor, an observer in our lives. Help us keep the rooms of our heart clean and acceptable for You! Lord help us find people whom we can trust and with whom we feel comfortable, so that we can find the motivation we need to keep our lives clean and focused on living for You! Amen.
