Advertising Jesus

My husband and I recently placed a For Sale sign in our front yard.  We’ve spiffed up the yard by planting flowers and mulching the flower beds.  We’ve touched up paint, replaced flooring, and switched out light fixtures.  We are sprucing up the place.  It’s been our experience homes sell more quickly if they are staged, so we light a candle, set the table, play some music, and do our best to appeal to all five senses when perspective buyers enter our home.  We have something valuable that we want others to appreciate and be interested in.

The same is true with my relationship with Christ.  The daily grime and wear and tear of this world causes damage to my earthly shell.  I find myself getting caught up in the tasks of earthly life and sometimes ignore the need for routine repairs to my spiritual life.  Then, before you know it, a storm comes in unexpectedly, and the shingles of my roof are scattered all over the front yard.

In the long run as with my home, spiritual repairs done routinely save time and energy.  Spending time daily with the Lord and His Word helps to strengthen my foundation in Him.  I find reliable shelter and protection in the wisdom of the Bible.  My life becomes miraculously staged for the world to see when I am grounded and firmly built by the Master Contractor.

It’s also ironic that just as I want my house to appeal to perspective buyers, I want Jesus to shine through everything I do—attracting others to Christ.  I want unbeliever’s senses to be touched but the reflection of Jesus living in me.  I want to be a good advertisement for Christ.

So during this unstable housing market and economic downturn, I am challenged to be sure “my house” reflects the best of care, so others might be drawn to check out what’s inside.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for dwelling in me and making my heart Your home.  Help me reflect Your message to all those who I come in contact with.  Remind me to take a daily inspection of my life, so that the routine wear and tear of this world doesn’t end up causing major damage.

“Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it,” Psalm 127:1 KJV.

Today’s devotion is by Gina Stinson, wife to Bruce, mom to Savannah and Tucker, co-founder of The Mission in Gunter, TX, and publicist assistant for Kathy Carlton Willis Communications.