Renovating the World

Today I closed on a house -- my first one ever! It's a fairly new house (about 8 years old), but there's going to be a lot of work to do on it (the previous owner had a love affair with florescent color). It's funny -- when I was looking at the house to buy, I noticed everything I liked about the place. But, yesterday, when I was doing my final walk-through before closing, I noticed everything wrong -- everything I woulod have to change, repair, or just get rid of.

I can see why people like to build their own houses brand new -- no garbage left by the previous owner, nothing to repair, nothing to paint over. It's just the way you want it.

For some reason, I was thinking about this as I was praying for four students who are currently in Congo filming a documentary on the children who are kidnapped and forced to serve in the military. One of our students, Tresor, is from Congo and his father is the minister of social justice, and that connection should allow them access to film the atrocities that are going on in that region of Africa. Here is their website if you'd like to learn more, and please keep Tresor, Derek, Jason, and Lindsay in your prayers.

This is what the Church must be involved in -- many times it seems as though the church is like that family who builds a brand-new house, everything just the way we like it. And that is what is portrayed from the pulpit, their websites, and their mass market mailings. Have you noticed how the same "family" is pictured on all these websites: good-looking husband and wife with 2 blond, well-behaved children with a nice two-story house, an SUV, and a boat to take to the lake on weekends in the summer.

But that's not the way the world is -- that's not even the way that "family" really is. Behind the plastic smiles probably lie resentment and jealousy, the only reason the kids are sitting still is because they're hopped up on Ritalin, and that new boat they purchased put them into so much debt they can barely stay afloat.

The world needs renovation -- real renovation, not just a splash of paint. And step number one is to admit where we're broken, what's messed up with this world, with our families. Only by living honestly can the Great Physician work His miracles in our lives. And only by being honest with one another can the Church be the hands by which He does His redemptive work.