I spent 3 months this summer helping to renovate my grandfather in laws house so my wife and I could move into it. A month or so was spent destroying things. 2 months spent rebuilding. We gutted a few different rooms down to the studs before we could start to rebuild.
In the midst of the hard work I was reminded of how God does a similar thing with His children. Before we could even start to destroy walls and pull out wires we had to remove all of the stuff that was inside. Sometimes God has to help us get rid of that old stuff that we have so desperately hung on too. After the sin is removed and the dirt is swept up then God can rebuild. He takes what is old and broken and makes it clean and new and working. He restores sinful heart to a new heart. A place where His spirit can dwell in peace. Sometimes the process is painful. Sometimes mistakes are made (just like in renovating a house). Yet in the end what God has planned does come to fruition.
So let me ask you this, What is there in your heart or life that you are desperately holding on to that God might be telling you to get rid of? We need to realize that He asks us to get rid of these old things so that He can give us new habits and new thoughts.
Thankfully God does this a lot better than we can. He removes what needs to be removed and restores what needs to be restored. We just need to be faithful to follow Him, to listen to Him, and to obey and not fight what He is doing in our lives.
thatimaybegraftedin 