To Fulfill the Purpose

One day as we were driving along, I noticed an abandoned house on the corner.  The windows were boarded up and the back porch was literally falling apart.  It was obvious it had been some time since the house had been occupied.

The house is still a house, but it is not fulfilling it's purpose, which is to be a home to a family.  Doubtless at one time a family lived here, but now the walls hear no laughter of children and the floors echo no pitter-patter of little feet.

As Christians, we too can become empty, broken down houses.  While we are still Christians, we have reached a point where we are no longer fulfilling our purpose, which is to glorify the Lord. We have the shell of the house, but the joy and peace and love of the Lord doesn't seem to resound in our hearts and ears.

I heard a preacher once say that if we have a problem walking with God by faith, God is not the problem.  That is the truth.  If we have a problem walking with God, the problem is we do not know God well enough.  Once we begin to know Him, what His has done for us, what He is doing for us and what He is going to do for us, then we will want to know Him as well as we possibly can.

Our abandoned house would love for someone to come and repair the porch and un-board it's windows. (If houses could really think and feel, of course.)  It would love to have a sweet little family sit to eat in it's dining room, and snuggle in to sleep in it's bedrooms.  It has the desire, but not the ability to make that desire a reality.

The wayward Christian has the desire to, even though they may not vocalize it.  And they have the ability.  The Lord is more than willing to shed His abundant mercy and grace to them.  In fact, the Scriptures say that the Lord "delighteth in mercy," (Micah 7:18.)  He is "gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy," (Psalm 145:8.)

Our Lord is for us.  He is the great restorer.  He is the God of reconciliation.  He is the creator of resurrection.  If we are not where we should be in our walk with Him, He wants to show us the way back, indeed, He wants to walk with us there.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: 

though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 

though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Isaiah 1:18