"Imagine Yourself A Living House"

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

God is in the process of making  you into something magnificent.  This is especially true if you have suffered a great deal in your life.  God will tear down the walls of  your life, and He will rebuild them into something that can house His glory.  We often wonder why God is allowing such great suffering in our lives.  The answer is actually quite simply, however; some of us have major walls to be torn down.  On the other hand, as a Christian, it is always worth it to endure the tearing down process because in the end, the beauty that is created is more magnificent than we could have imagined.   Often, we are content to be "a decent little cottage", however, this is the Christian equivalent to being lukewarm.  God wants to build something incredibly beautiful in you. For some of us that means extensive renovation.

This has certainly been true in my life. The past five years have been brutal.  Life has not gone at all like I would have hoped.  Yet, for having gone through it, I am a better man because of it.  I often wonder if we can grow at all as Christians without suffering.  It is through suffering that our faith becomes more mature, and we as people are refined as gold.

Peter put it this way:

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy."  (I Peter 4:12-13).

It is our natural inclination to feel like God has abandoned us or that He is punishing us when we are going through a particularly rough time.  This not the case, however.  The assurance we  have as Christians is that God is building us each into something beautiful that is worthy of His name and that He will always use our suffering for our benefit and His glory. It is difficult to always hold on to this truth. But, my friend, "Know you not that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).  And if you are like me, in order to be a proper temple of the Spirit of God, major renovation needs to occur.  We should not be surprised, and as crazy as it sounds, we should be thankful.