Extreme Heart Makeover

Driver… MOVE THAT BUS!!!

The TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition is exciting. Talk about Solomon’s 100,000 workers! It seems that Ty Pennington has resurrected that crew and put them right back to work. And what they produce is surely only a little less grand than one of Solomon’s houses…

I’m not casting suspicion on the generous intent of the cast, but I sometimes do wonder… How do the recipients of such a lavish gift cope with their success? How does it feel, beyond the initial rush, to be suddenly elevated above everyone in your neighborhood? And to be introduced to a lifestyle that no part of your background has prepared you for?

And I’m plagued by other questions… How do they pay the taxes on those monstrosities? For that matter, how do they clean them? Who pays for the upkeep of such grandeur, and the repairs on high-tech equipment? And what happens when, in three years, Mattie outgrows her ballerina bedroom?

No doubt the new homes are a Godsend to some of these people, a literal answer to prayer and a solution to agonizing dilemmas. But my guess is that for most of them, the homes are mixed blessings. And for those who bank on finally having their problems solved, they’re a huge (no pun intended) disappointment. Many of those problems follow them right in the front door of their new home. Broken relationships, dysfunctional interaction, emotional baggage, fears and addictions will all claim their territory under the new roof. We’ve all found it to be true.

It’s time we stopped looking hungrily at the shiny apples Satan still holds out to us. No use being peeved at Eve; we haven’t learned to say no either. We haven’t learned that if you can see it, you can lose it. If you can touch it, it can disappear. Happiness and satisfaction are offered by another hand, a nail-scarred one. It’s an empty hand – Jesus doesn’t want to give you something; He wants to give you Himself. He wants to draw you into Himself.

Think of it as being invited into your new Makeover home, and that home is Christ. Do you really want to see Him? Then make a spiritual fuss about it! Insist that the bus be moved – the Bus of Trivial Pursuit – so that you can see Him in all His glory. Go ahead - rush for the Door. Exclaim over His astonishing beauty. Run through the hallways of His promises. Open the doors of His goodness and blessing. Explore the wonders of His grace.

And relax. If anyone is in Christ, the old is gone (it didn’t follow you through the front door) and the new has arrived. Solomon in all his glory never had such a dwellingplace.

Enjoy!