Matthew Costner

I like to look at houses on the internet. The bigger and nicer the house seems, the more I want to see what’s on its inside. If I can’t see a picture of it’s rooms, then I usually pass it off as mediocre. I mean, just because it looks good on the outside doesn’t mean it is on the inside. To truly see a house, it is imperative to see its inside. On the internet if a house’s rooms are nice, the owner or seller post as many pictures of them as possible.

If you’re like me, you fear that when you let people in the rooms of your life it will be obvious they aren’t extravagant and glamorous like the ones in the million dollar homes I look at the most. If anything, I often see the rooms in my life as needing to be painted (which is a lot of work!), or at least have some work done. Because I seem to be a mess, I have a hard time disclosing the real me because I don’t really trust people enough to be that vulnerable with them. Like many of you I have been abandoned before and even fear that my honesty could be thought of as a weakness. So what do I seem to do? I wear masks and build walls that keep people out.

I think it’s safe to say we all do that though. Our masks seem to resemble our most cherished childhood superhero making the nerd underneath indestructible, and our walls seem to be spray painted with the words “keep out” or “beware of dog” cautioning passerbys to not go any further. But it takes both of those to really be hidden doesn’t it? To leave one out may mean we are found out and to make sure we aren’t, we need to cover all the angles.

When we wear our masks and hide behind our walls people can’t see Jesus. Since Jesus is often known as light (see John 1:4, 5), we can’t expect someone to see “the light” if we don’t let them. I mean, no one can see the light in a house when all the doors and curtains are closed and they are standing outside. Jesus says the same thing this way, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or bed? Instead don’t you put it on its stand?” When we don’t disclose, or to continue with my analogy, let people in the house, all we do is hide the light, Jesus.

I have come to the conclusion that to see Jesus is not to see good works and kind heartedness but to be “blinded by the light” of redemption and justice. Even in the dark I can see a nice house that may seem warm and inviting, but this is how the enemy most often presents itself. At first appealing, but when the light is shined, the blemishes can be seen. The truth is we all have blemishes. We all are broken and hurt people in need of makeovers. Makeovers that Jesus has already cleaned, washed, and fixed if we’ve let Him.

Like any home, remodels and cleanings are necessary. They’re definitely not fun to do in the meantime, but well worth having it done in the end. Letting Jesus remodel and clean our lives is just as hard. But here’s the thing, Jesus will turn us from old to new, from hurt and wronged to healed and loved, from being ugly and unattractive on the inside to being more beautiful than any castle we can find on the internet or see around the world.

I promise if I had a million dollar home, I would be so excited I would post thousands of pictures for you all to see. Shame on me if I don’t get that excited about what Christ has done in me. Especially, since He paid for the renovations.