We’ve just wrapped up a pretty major renovation at the Ratcliffe house (Shout out to Platinum Kitchens and Hill Brothers Flooring!). My wife, Kathy, and I now fully understand why families usually move out of their houses during renovations on the shows we watch on HGTV. Living through a renovation can be trying to say the least with dust from old flooring being torn up, sawdust and drywall mud dust EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING. It was hard to see the forrest through the trees as we were going through the process, but now that everything is finished, the end resulting is truly amazing! Our house is so much more open, bright and functional and we know we’re going to love it for years to come.

I was pondering the parallels to our spiritual lives as I was listening to the sermon at church this past weekend. The main verse for the sermon was 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” As I thought more about it, I realized that sometimes God does what’s like a “renovation” in our lives. These are the times when he prunes away things that are hampering our spiritual progress. Many times, these renovations aren’t fun to live through, and we have a hard time letting go of some of those things that need to be pruned away. But in the end, God is working those things for our good and His glory. It may be a painful process, but often times it’s a necessary one.

Then as I thought about 2 Corinthians 5:17, I realized that this particular change that Paul is talking about is not a renovation at all! This is a complete demolition of the old house and rebuilding of a new one! This is a house that was falling apart, needing to be condemned, that the owner of the property said, “let’s tear this down and start all over again. This new house will be perfect, beautiful and will serve a new purpose!” THAT’S what God does in our lives when we place our faith in Him. Our identity goes from being who the world or our flesh says we are, to being who GOD says we are in Christ! We go from being a house that needs to be condemned, to having no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. So let me encourage you to live according to THAT identity…NOT who the world or your past says you are. You are a new creation built by The Master Builder