Am I Welcome At Your House?

This was a question I saw recently attached to a picture of our Lord. You know, when I first saw that, my knee jerk answer was "Of course You are!". I'll bet that, or something similar to that, would be the first thought for most of us. Yet, I have to wonder, if Jesus dropped by one evening to sit and watch TV with us, would He be pleased with what we were watching? If he came to sit and chat, would He be pleased with the topics of discussion? Would we need to tidy up before we would feel comfortable having Him as our guest? Are there books, CDs, DVDs, magazines lying around that we might prefer He not know we owned? What about that Bible laying on the table? Would it need dusting off? Would our ususal attitudes and tones of conversation be suitable to entertain the Lord?

If I'm honest with myself and with all of you, I would have to admit that there are some evenings when I wouldn't want the Lord to drop in on us. We don't have a Playboy on the table and we don't use inappropriate language (well, not usually anyway), but we do often let our tempers get the best of us. Our attitudes are not conducive to encouraging kindness and compassion in each other on some evenings. We excuse ourselves by saying well, we've had a bad day. We're living under extreme circumstances; we've got really stressful lives.

Hummmmmm, I wonder how we would have felt if the Lord Jesus had gotten up off His knees in the Garden of Gethsemane and said "Father, it's just too stressful for me. It's just too much to ask of a person. I mean, I need a vacation here. I'm way too stressed out for you to expect me to go through this tomorrow!"

I am so often guilty of excusing my sin instead of simply confessing it and asking Jesus to forgive me. I think, well I don't do the BIG sins; I'm a pretty good person. Why, I take care of my sick husband; I make sure my MIL is well cared for; I help take care of Daddy; I'm always there for the girls or the kids if they need me; I pray every single day for so many people and so many situations; I spend sometimes hours either on the computer and/or telephone encouraging those whose lives have left them defeated and downtrodden. Well, I'm a virtual saint! I go on and on with my litany to impress the Lord with ALL I DO, yet all of it rolled together for the entirety of my life couldn't compare to just one drop of the blood he shed for me.

What a rank and unthankful sinner am I! And, I could just live there, but for one thing. One day when I was eleven years old, I knelt on my knees in an old-fashioned altar in an old-fashioned church and, with all the sincerity in my eleven year old heart, I confessed my sins to the Lord Jesus, I acknowedged Him as my only hope for salvation and I asked him to come into my heart and take my sins away. And you know what, He did. The heavens didn't open, angels didn't sing; as a matter of fact, everything was pretty normal after I said "Amen". Well, everything but one thing, something deep within me knew that that one drop of His blood had just washed over me and had taken every sin from my cold, stony heart and had replaced that cold, stony heart with a new heart filled with a desire to know God, to love Him and to be as close to Him as I possibly could be.

Sometimes the trials of life make me forget that temporarily. Then, the Lord sends me a gentle reminder that simply says "Diane, remember you're My child. I'm walking with you and carrying you when I need to. I will never leave you; you cannot seperate yourself from Me. I love you with an everlasing Love. My Father sees your sin no more, only that precious drop of My blood." Then, I humble myself before the Throne of Grace and I beg forgivness for my unthankfulness and arrogance. I ask Him to pick me up because I cannot walk here. Then He lifts me up and my soul soars becuase the Lord of the universe holds me and carries me in His loving arms.

I can now invite Jesus as a guest in my home because I've done the tidying up. I've swept the dark corners clean and it is a fit abode for the Saviour of my soul. Until the next time, that is. Then, I'll do the same things over again and, you know what, He will too! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!!!