Dear friends,

On Monday, we collected the keys to our house in Sunningdale so that we can start to prepare it for our return. It seemed strange going back, and we quickly realised how much work we would have to do! Some of the fixtures and fittings have become rather tired-looking during the last 15 years. We need to freshen the place up, replace a few things and get some new furniture and fittings to turn it back into our home, rather than someone else’s!

It reminded us that the Bible sometimes uses the analogy of home as a way of talking about our relationship with God.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul challenges the church in Corinth about some of their standards of behaviour: – ‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.’

It’s like saying ‘Your body is like a home that is not your own – so remember who it really belongs to, and treat it and use it in ways that are to the taste of the owner, because he wants to live there with you!

Now, we’re sure our tenants would have complained if we had turned up one day and said ‘this is our house – we’re moving in now and want to live with you, so can you change this and that to our taste rather than yours?’ …but all analogies break down after a point!

But isn’t it amazing that God by his Spirit wants to make his home with us? That’s why it’s always worth challenging ourselves about whether we’re ‘decorating’ these mortal bodies of ours to the owner and maker’s taste. Are we using them for the purposes of love, joy and peace? Are we characterised by attitudes of patience, kindness and gentleness? And do we adopt the healthy disciplines of faithfulness, goodness and self-control? Or are we prone to trashing God’s home with harsh words, with deep-seated hatred and with the darker side of human nature which we all suffer from all too easily?

Perhaps thinking of ourselves as God’s home in this life is one way of disciplining ourselves to live more like Jesus and preparing ourselves to live in the home that he’s getting ready for us in the life to come?

With our love and prayers,
Matthew and Pauline