A Six Room House

A Six-Room House

walk worthy of the calling with which you were called

(Ephesians 4:1)

In recent blogs, we have looked at our 2-fold beings --  the outer (physical) body and the inner (spiritual) nature.  We have also looked at the picture of Jesus standing, knocking on the door of the heart, seeking admission to bring forgiveness of sin and new life to the inner being. Today I’d like to address what happens in the outer portion after the spiritual has been reborn.

There are some who, not being able to grasp the concept of eternal security of salvation, would contend that if a person cannot lose their salvation by what they do, then it would be okay to sin all you want to.  In reality, because salvation changes what my dad always referred to as our want to, believers no longer find enjoyment in sinful activities, but being human, sin more than we want to.

Now that we have explored the dealings of the inner being, let’s take a look at the outer portion of ourselves. One way is to compare it to a house with six rooms.  Each room represents a different area of our makeup: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Financial/Material, Social, and Spiritual.

Physical includes what we say, what we do, and where we go.

Mental includes our thought processes.

Emotional includes our attitudes and motives.

Financial/Material includes our possessions.

Social includes our interactions with others.

Spiritual (not to be confused with the inner/spiritual being) includes our interaction with God through prayer, Bible study and worship.

With these rooms in mind, how comfortable would we be to let Jesus wander through our houses and look around? Are there any rooms whose doors we would want to shut and lock against His scrutiny?  How about the closets?  Anything there we wouldn’t want Him to see?

The sobering truth is that nothing we do or say is beyond His knowledge.  He even sees things of which we are unaware.  But rather than condemn us for our messiness, He lovingly points it out so that, with His help, we can clean it up.

None of us can ever totally eliminate messy areas in our outer nature, but our goal should be to clean and straight up on a daily basis.  In that way, step-by-step, we grow to be more like the example Jesus set for us during His life here on Earth.

Lord, welcome to my house today;
I’m thankful that You came to stay.
Help me clean up every mess;
Thanks all my efforts You will bless.

Glenda Collins Inman