Inviting the Savior into our lives
One day when I really understood what Jesus Christ had done for me,
I invited Him to come into the house of my
heart. And, as soon as I invited Him, He came, without any hesitation.
And, when He was there, He filled the house
with joy. And, I wanted to run and tell all the neighbors about
my guest and how wonderful it was to have Him there.
When everything was settled, I said, "I hope you will stay and feel perfectly at home here."
And, He said, "I'm sure I will, and now since we are new friends;
why don't you show me around. I would like very
much to see the library in the House of your heart."
And so I did.
Now in my house, the LIBRARY is very small and has very thick walls
and is filled with everything I have read.
Books, magazines, news articles, everything I have seen, like T.V.
shows, movies, plays; all the Sunday School
lessons I have listened to, the sermons, the lecturers, they're
all there in the library. And His eyes gazed over all
the things that were on the shelf. And, I was a little embarrassed
that there was so much trivia there. I wished that
more scriptures and church books were really mine and on the shelf.
And, I suggested to Him that maybe I could
stand a little bit of renovation in this room, and He agreed, that
maybe we--together--could add more worthwhile
things to the library.
You see, the library is a very important room because it's the study
so-to-speak of the mind--a sort of control room
for the whole house. It affects the lighting, the electricity, and
everything else in the house.
And, then He said He would like to see the DINING ROOM; and I took
Him in. Now in my house, this is a very
large room because this is the room of appetites and desires; and
it was stacked with all kinds of boxes and things.
And, I told Him I was always hungry, but I never seemed to be satisfied.
And He told me that it was because I was
eating the wrong things.
He said, "If you would diet as I do, you would never feel hunger;
for I live on the word of the Lord, the Father."
And, then He offered me a taste of it; and it was delicious--and
oh, the flavor of it. And, I agreed with Him that this
alone satisfied, and I knew that I would spend less time in the
dining room now that He was a guest in the house.
Next, He asked if He could see my WORKSHOP. Now; I had a workshop;
it was down in the basement. And, we
went down and looked at the workbench and saw all the talents and
the skills that were there. But, I hadn't really
produced much. He looked everything over and said that I had a lot
of good equipment, but that I really hadn't used
it to produce much. Oh, there were a few gadgets and trinkets and
half finished projects but nothing really of great
value.
And I said, "Well, if I wasn't quite so busy maybe I could do better.
I know all the tools are there, but I'm awkward
and clumsy, and I really don't know how to use them."
So, He said, "Would you like to be able to use the tools in your
workshop?" And, I said, "Oh yes, would you help
me?" And He said, "I was wondering if you would ask me."
And, so He stood behind me and put His great powerful hands over
mine and guided them, and He showed me how
to use the tools in the workshop. And, with His hands directing
mine, I marveled at the work of art that came out.
And, I said, "Now that you have helped me, I am going to come into
the workshop often, and this will be a fun room
to come to. Will you always help me?" And He said, "Yes, if you
invite me to, but I never come unless I am
invited."
And, so we left the workshop and the next room we went into was the DRAWING ROOM.
Now, this was a small, quiet, peaceful place in my heart for deep
thoughts and meditation, and He seemed pleased
with it and comfortable there. And, so He said,
"Let's meet here often at least twice a day and we can have long
talks together, and you can tell me about all your
activities and all your ambitions and all your problems -- and we'll
talk it over together every day."
I thought that sounded wonderful. So, I made an appointment with
Him everyday that I would do that; and I did at
first, faithfully. But, then I got too busy, and sometimes I would
forget to come in the morning. And, sometimes I
would forget to come at night. And, sometimes days would go by,
and we never had a talk at all.
Now, it wasn't that I didn't want to talk to Him, it was just that
I was so busy and had a lot to do. Then, one day as I
went to leave, I noticed Him standing in the doorway of. the drawing
room. And, I said, "Have you been waiting
there every morning for me?" And, He said, "Yes, we had an appointment,
and you haven't been here for a long
time." And I said, "You're a guest in my house, and I have neglected
you; and I'm sorry."
I had called on Him when I was in need, to come and help me, and
He always came, but that was about the way I
used Him. When things went well, I didn' t really think we needed
our chat as well as we did when things were bad.
And, so I decided that it had been a very one-sided relationship,
and I also realized that He missed me. So, I said,
"Maybe there's something I could do for you; you've done so much
for me." And, He said, "Yes, there's a great
deal you could do for me. I was wondering when you would want to
help me."
"I have so many projects and so many things that need to be done.
I could use a good friend like you. For one
thing, I have no money in the world at all. I only have yours to
use. Would you let me use some of yours? And there
are people I just cannot see. I could send you and commission you
to go and represent me. Would you do that?"
"Yes, of course" I replied.
But then one day I got rebellious and I said, "You demand too much
of me. Can't I have anything to myself. After
all, I have things I want to spend my money for, and you're always
there needing something."
Now that wasn' t a very nice way to treat a person, especially a
guest. And, then He said, "Look at the things of my
projects, and who benefits from them." And, then I really was ashamed
because everything I did benefited me as
well. as others and not Him personally. So I continued His work.
And, then one day, He said, "There is a peculiar odor in this house,
and it's coming from that locked closet. And,
although you've let me go into every room in the house, that one
door has always been locked, and you've never let
me in."
Now that made me mad! I had let Him into every room in my house;
I ran and did His errands for Him; I let Him
use my money, and now He wanted to look in my secret closet. So,
I said "I hold the key, and I will not let you in
that closet. It's very small, only about 2 feet by 4 feet. The rest
of my house is large enough and is perfectly
presentable; so it shouldn't make any difference." And He said,
"I cannot stay in this house if you do not give me
the key to the closet." And, so. He left.
Oh, I was sad. And, great despair and gloom and depression came over
me. Because you see, once having had Him
as a guest in my home, life was unbearable without him. And, so
I went and tearfully pleaded with and I begged
Him, "Come back, and I will give you the key to the closet and I
will withhold nothing from you--I cannot stand to
live without you."
And, so I gave Him the key, and He opened it. And, then quickly and
efficiently He cleansed out those things that
were dead and rotten that I wanted to feel were not there and wanted
to ignore. He cleaned the whole closet out,
fumigated it, painted it, and He made it perfectly acceptable. Afterwards,
I said,
"I'm so ashamed that you know what was in my closet." And, then He
said, "Why I see only a house that is totally
acceptable to me." And, then I knew why I loved Him so. And why
of all my biggest of brothers only this one could
love me enough to clean out my closet. And then, He said, "You know,
I've cleaned out so many closets, but it's a
strange thing. I can never remember afterwards what was in them."
After a few moments, I said,
"I get so tired of cleaning all the time, I go from one room to the
other trying to keep up in the drawing room, in the
dining room, the workshop, and in the library, but I always seem
to be behind. I was wondering if you could take
over the whole house like you did the closet, and you could be the
owner, and I would be the guest and sort of
helper or servant. And we'll switch positions. Instead of me calling
on you to help me, you can call on me to help
you. Is it possible?"
And, He said, "Why yes, that's why I came the first time you invited
me." So, I ran and got the deed to my house
and I signed it over to Him, and I said, "It is yours it belongs
to you, and I withhold nothing from you."
After I gave Him the deed, He immediately started remodeling the
house because He was not content to own a
cottage. He was the architect, the planner, the builder, and told
me eventually we would end up with a magnificent
castle. It would take a white to build, but we would build it together.
So, He started the remodeling. He was the
master of the house, and I was the servant, and I did whatever He
bid. And, there were times when clouds came
and gathered around the house, clouds of war, hate, and sin. And
they beat on the house and demanded entry. But
because He was the Lord of the house, it has a firm foundation and
none of it was allowed to enter. Inside the house
there was warmth, peace, and tranquility regardless of what was
outside.
He told me as time went on that He would move my house to another
city. He would take care of all the
arrangements, and I wouldn't even have to know the day it took place
or when. He said that I would' be in a city
where He had the deed to all the houses and there would be no storms'
or darkness~; and I would like the
neighbors better. It sounded wonderful, and I looked forward to
it with eagerness. And, I looked back so long ago
when I first invited Christ to come into the house of my heart as
a guest, and thought about the many years it took
to have the courage to give Him the deed to the house. And I wondered
why I had been so stingy and had
reluctantly wanted to turn it over because He showered me with gifts
and took care of all the remodeling, and I was
always the debtor.
(Author Unknown)