A Big Job

New carpet is being put into the church, starting today. They can’t just put the new carpet over the old. It would be too thick and bulky. It would likely wear out faster and become a hazard to walk on. The only way things can be done right is to remove all the old carpeting and replace it with the new. Since parts of the church were built with carpet in mind, the floors are not nice woodwork. I have seen some homes, when the carpeting was removed, that had beautiful wood flooring underneath. There are times the family chooses to sand the floor a little bit and varnish it to bring out a wonderful warm feel. Replacing the carpeted areas in the church is a big job that will take a number of days to complete. It has to be torn down before it will be built back up again. Imagine, as an illustration, that the carpet represented our human body and the church represented Christ. Well, that isn’t hard to imagine since He is the head of the church. The decision wasn’t to replace the carpet just because we got bored with the color. It was replaced because it starting to bleach out and there were places where the carpet had become unraveled beyond repair, and other places that had holes in it. As we were created (like when the carpet was last replaced), everything was as it should be. When God originally created humans, they were without sin. Sadly, after Eve had disobeyed God in the garden, we were no longer as we were created to be, but sin caused us to become broken and far from the original design. God tells us in 1 Peter 2, to “... rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” God clearly calls us to get rid of all the sin in our lives that so easily entangle us. Other places in God’s word speak of not giving the Devil a foothold in our lives so that He can manipulate us. Romans 12 speaks of “not conforming to the world”. Once the sin is confessed and forgiven, we must replace it with that which is good and pleasing to God. According to Peter, we are to crave pure spiritual milk... recognizing, like infants, our need for nourishment from above. Father, remove that which is broken and worn out in our lives and replace it with new hearts committed fully to You. Amen