“Before” and “After”

When I was a kid, we had an addition built onto our house. And oh, what an addition: “Before” was a tiny, older, two-room, one-bath bungalow; “After” was a brand-new sprawling six-room mansion. It had stairs, a new kitchen, a dining room, a garage, and most important, I even got my OWN ROOM!

I’ll tell you one thing; a remodeling project isn’t easy and it isn’t instantaneous. While it went on, there was rarely any peace. It was noisy, we had sawdust through the whole house, my parents were grouchy, and there were people I didn’t know banging hammers, running saws and slopping paint all over the place. Plus chickens and dogs (we lived in the country) kept coming in through the gigantic hole in our living room wall, in spite of the tarp draped over it.

“After” wasn’t perfect either; we didn’t have curtains in the windows and the wiring had problems. My parents still had to paint the walls, move the furniture and put up pictures. The stairs, which at first had seemed so exciting, got to be a pain. The "new" house needed to be kept up; things wore out and broke down just like before. Worst of all, my brother still came into my room and made faces at me.

But I’ll tell you what; it was worth the trouble.

Getting to know Jesus is worth the trouble too. But don’t expect to be perfect; not at the beginning of the “project,” and not even at the end. Not everyone has a dramatic conversion like Paul on the road to Damascus, and I’ll bet even he was a work-in-progress for some time.

The Bible tells us to be perfect, (Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48) and I’m trying. But I know “perfection” is a distant goal. (...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... Romans 3:23) I’ll be as close to perfect as I can, knowing that, well, I can’t be perfect.

If you’re an “After,” go easy on yourself for being less than perfect. Go easy on "befores," too. You’re not better than they are; you’re in a different part of your renovation. If you’re a “Before,” I welcome you to try God. He loves you as you are AND He wants you to be better.

Everyone was a “Before” once.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Peace, Love and Happy Renovation