Holy Fool

If you have ever moved from one place to another, and if you are like me (and I know I am), then you have no doubt at some point wondered what in the sweet world are you going to do with the mountain of junk you have somehow managed to attain and then stow into the nooks and crannies of your home/apartment/hobbit hole, etc..  As you begin to gather all of your bounteous loot and place it into box after box you reminisce a bit, perhaps even fawn over, some item of past worth.  Perhaps it's your trophies from Junior High Track, or your mint set of 1988 Donruss baseball cards, or in my case a small box of knickknacks that contain a variety of American and foreign coins and postage stamps collected from relatives and visiting missionaries.  After your moment of cherishment you place the item in a box, take it to your new destination, and after settling in it ends up tucked away until you repeat the process over again.

Our Christian life can sometimes end up being a lot like this exercise in moving.  We have a lot of miscellaneous junk that we have stowed away in our psyches.  A bad deed there, a hidden longing over here, a well intentioned plan in the attic that we are saving for some rainy day.  From time to time God asks us to move, and so we box up all of our assorted junk that we have attached personal meaning to, and bring it out of hiding just long enough to acknowledge it; but before you know it we have moved into our new pad and all of the junk has been tidied up and placed out of sight and mind.

The thing is we have often misunderstood God's command.  Location is hardly ever the issue, it's the presence of God in the midst of our circumstance and awareness of his abiding love that makes the difference.  If you are feeling restless, like you need to move on, chances are you are simply going to box up the same old junk that is holding you back now and only end up with a change of scenery.  God isn't interested in competing with FedEx or UPS, he is not interested in helping you be emotionally unhealthy somewhere else.  We think God is asking us to move on, when he is simply asking us to let him dump our junk so that he can move in.

God wants to inhabit the deepest parts of our being and to transform them.  This is the essence of sanctification, God transforming us into the person he always meant for us to be, His image bearer.  Are you allowing God to transform you in this way?  The essence of your faith hangs on this question; are you attempting to define yourself, or have you found the freedom that is discovering who God already made you to be?  In your story is your house full of boxes of self-loathing, regret and pain; or is it full of mysterious and wonderful packages yet to be opened?