Interior decorating

He entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines upon the table, the pictures on the walls. As I followed His gaze I became uncomfortable.*

When I was in high school and college, we often used a booklet called "My Heart, Christ's Home" as a little Bible study. The excerpt above describes Christ coming to visit a person's heart, as though it is a dwelling. And as He goes through each "room," His host feels ashamed of what is displayed there.

I always found the material very convicting. Just the thought of Christ physically being there and going through all my "stuff" was startling.

Illustrations have their limit, and they don't always work for me, because they are normally drawn from someone else's imagination. We don't really know what Christ would say in such a situation...it is merely hypothetical.

+/-

But God's dwelling place is one theme that is often met in Scripture, and I was hit by one of those instances recently.

"And he said to me, 'Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.' So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel."-Ezekiel 8:9, 10

I know it's a little out of context, but to me this was another example of a holy place no longer being worthy as a place for God to dwell. And this can be taken literally and figuratively. Since our physical dwellings reflect our relationship with God, we have to make sure that they bring Him glory. And as Robert Boyd Munger pointed out in his booklet, if Christ dwells within us, then anything we use to "decorate" our lives should be pleasing to Him.

*"My Heart, Christ's Home," original text by Robert Boyd Munger (can be purchased from Intervarsity Press)