Lent Day Four - Light and Renovation

You have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. - Jesus, John 12

This morning Rebekah and I watched a home renovation show while sipping coffee and - hopefully - easing into what's going to be a very busy Saturday. The show is built around the following disturbing premise: It turns out that - far too often - contractors who come into people's homes to do extensive/expensive remodels, not only perform botched work and violate code, but they knowingly cover it up, take the money, and move on to another job.

The one-hour show goes on to document the problems, bring in a team of experts, and literally rescue the homeowners from the unfolding nightmare.

(Our house has seen a phenomenal amount of work over the past 15 months. But we did a lot of research, hired well-referenced contractors, love what they have done, and are enjoying wonderful, high quality, results.)

One consistent factor in the intervention is extensive demolition. Floors are pulled up, walls torn down, ceilings removed, plumbing jack-hammered out of the concrete. One thing leads to another until the extent of the cover-up is exposed and the ultimate root of the problem corrected.

Lent tie in:

Today is the fourth day in the season of Lent, the time of preparation for Easter. It occurs to me that I will never really be ready for what Christ offers until I'm willing to look beneath the surface and deal with the shoddy workmanship - often accumulated over time - that sometimes characterizes the way I do business as a human being in the day to day.

Jesus did not come to work on my facade; Jesus lived and taught and suffered and addressed death head-on in order to set me free. Freedom goes a lot deeper than appearances.

The scripture for today talks about light. Simply put, we need light to see clearly or nothing really changes. Christ offers that light, and it's a view of ourselves that is incisive without condemning. The light the Jesus applies brings healing along with the revelation.

Earlier in John's story of the Good News Jesus makes his purpose clear: "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

So this weekend, if you're reading this post with any sense of journey through Lent, why not ask Jesus to bring light to the dark places? - and then have the courage to embark on some renovation work.

As the guy on the TV show likes to say, "Let's Make This Right!"

Peace - DEREK