It’s been a long time since I actually went somewhere totally by myself. In fact, I can’t remember a time in the last 15 years that I went somewhere completely alone with no humming of tires, no planes flying over, and no other people. The silence these last two days was palpable — on the outside — I find it funny how loud the mind gets when everything else goes quiet. How rambunctious it becomes, like a rabid raccoon trapped in a steel trash can. It’s even more ironic how accurate that description is at first. We are so accustomed to sound, activity, one continual thing after another that after we get to a place of absolute silence it is overwhelming.
At first, my mind tried to make up for the silence, careening here and there from thought to thought without any care…a Tasmanian devil caught in my head. I opened my bible within minutes of getting to the cabin and began to pour into John’s gospel. Then, as I focused on the reason for getting away, namely to rest near the river of God, to savor the sweetness of His sovereignty and quench the desperate thirst of my soul, my mind (and the enemy of my mind) turned to the real battle.
You see, I’m a 34 year-old single man in pretty good health, and the enemy knows as well as God does what a man longs for. So for a fleeting moment, my dead-flesh (Romans 8:7) twitched and said to me “You’re alone in the middle of nowhere, no one will know what you’ve watched or done.” And for a moment I physiologically reacted. That is, my pulse quickened, my hands began to sweat, I was tempted. Let me be clear right here. To be tempted is not evil. It’s when we act or dwell upon temptation that it changes. Then, because I was in the Word, a steadier voice, the voice of the Spirit came and said “Someone else owns this house. Would you do this wicked thing in the house of someone who gifted it to you to use?” By “wicked thing” the spirit meant sin. Any sin that lies in the darkness of our hearts.
So it is with us, with our bodies, when we are born again by the Spirit. Since the spirit of God indwells with us: “I will put my spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” Ezekiel 36:27, or “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh…” Ezekiel 11:19 or “We will come to him and make our home with him..” John 14:23, it is not our house any longer. In truth, it never was.
This house was built as a gift to us for life, but the owner is God. This can help us in fighting sin by remembering we are guests in His house. If he owns the house, he will be sure to take care of it, based on his promises (Which do not state that we will not bodily suffer now, nor be sick, nor have disease. These are all symptoms of a fallen world). Pastor Wes said in a sermon once, “It’s not our party, so we can’t truly complain.” and he’s right. In fact the party isn’t even in our house.
I was reminded, as the silence became more hospitable to the cacophony of my brain, of the story of Jesus overturning tables and pouring out bowls of the money-changers in the Temple. By this point in history, these people are so far removed from the intended purpose of the temple that they just believe what they are doing is OK without stopping to consider the conditions of their surroundings.
Now consider yourself (yes, even you, Christian): Living how you want, doing what you want with your bodies because “I only get one life” (or because it’s not happening as quickly or in the way that you want)? There is a healer who wants to turn tables over in your life, silence the noise and remind you that it’s His house. He wants to remind you, as he did the pigeon sellers “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
Jesus was the first man to ever set foot in the temple in the HISTORY of mankind that said these words…”my Father’s house”. This means relationship — intimate relationship — not just a King or Lord or Sovereign God, but abba Father, which means Daddy.
Is not your house, your Father’s? I know mine is. I promise you Jesus wants you to let him into all the dark, locked rooms so that he can work a mighty and purifying work in you. Let him sweep the floors, remove the drapes, open the windows, and that fresh air will renew your mind and bring you hope again. Especially you runaway prodigals.
What you need is hope over everything. Hope is found in one place, Jesus Christ. No matter how far you’ve run, you’re not too far. You’re only two knees and a broken heart away. No matter what sin you’ve committed, no matter how bad or vile you feel it is…God will run to you with open arms and celebrate your return home. I promise you this, because I am one as well. A prodigal son.
The Pen is Mightier.. 