"Hey, Make Yourself at Home"

Have you ever told someone that at your house? And, then, they started to re-arrange the furniture, go through your junk drawers, throwing things away, putting up their own pictures...most of us would go nuts if someone did that in our house.

In Ephesians 3:17, Paul writes, "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith". To dwell or to abide is the idea of "making yourself at home". Paul is referring to Christ "making himself at home" within the Christian's life. That Jesus moves in. Many Christians are ok with that part of it, but Jesus, when he makes himself at home in your life, he does begin to re-arrange the furniture. He opens the junk drawers of our hearts and begins to clean them out. That's the nature of the indwelling of Christ. That's the nature of true conversion. That's the nature of true salvation. The transformation of the human heart. A "spiritual renovation" begins to take place. That is the evidence of the "indwelling Christ", that he is re-arranging the furniture and cleaning house.

It's easy to see...many who claim to be Christians don't want any part of that. They want Jesus to stay around long enough to "make them happy" by giving them what they want on their own terms. No sacrificial obedience, no surrendering, no denying, no cross-carrying, just "my best life now" based upon my definition or some Christianized version of the current culture's "american dream" (oops, where did that come from?) One of three things is true: a shallow understanding of the gospel, a mis-understanding of salvation, or a false conversion. Or, all three of those could true.