That Old House

             I used to live in an old house. I liked that old house. It was comfortable, familiar to me. Everything there was precisely where I knew it would be. I didn’t have to hunt for anything. I knew exactly where to find that old house of mine. All the roads I travelled brought me back. When life got rough, that old house was where I ended up and quickly. After all, isn’t that where anyone wants to be when life goes haywire?  In fact, I’ve told people that familiarity often helps us get through the chaos that crashes into our lives.

            The only problem was that that old house wasn’t supposed to be where I lived. That old house was to be like a hotel and or even better, a coffee shop. I’d made it into a house. No matter how hard I tried to make improvements, it was always an inferior house for long-term living. It had limitations just like a hotel or a coffee shop does. You can’t stay in them forever. They’re just meant to be a temporary place to stop on the way to the house I was truly supposed to live in.

            To tell the truth, I’ve lived a lot of my life in that old house—that old house of emotions.  Emotions aren’t bad, but they are just that—emotions.  They rise and fall with the weather, circumstances, relationships, events. In general, they’re rather ephemeral. It’s hard to build a life on emotions. Still, I worked at it; perhaps you have, too. Maybe you’ve gotten as tired of that as I have.

            The well-known preacher Charles Stanley often says, “The truth is.” I used to get irked when he’d say that. The comment was as common in his delivery as a comma in this blog.  “The truth is, the truth is, the truth is.”

            Then this great, extended ah-ha began to stretch over my life. How often to do I tell myself lies, believe lies, absorb lies? How often do my emotions stir up dormant lies, crush my spirit so I believe lies whispered in my ears?

            Give me the truth, the truth, the Truth. The truth is: When life is tough, God is there. The truth is: When I feel worthless, Christ has made me worthy. The truth is: When the day seems long and sad, Jesus Christ is with me and carrying me through the hours. The truth is: When I cry for myself or others, Jesus collects my tears, and he hasn’t forgotten me or anyone else.

            The truth is, the truth is, the Truth is Jesus. When I build my house on the shifting sands of emotions, the waters of life dash my foundation. When I build on the foundation of truth, the house I’m supposed to live in withstands the storms of life.

            That old house of mine is okay for a vacation, a coffee stop—a brief stay. God never intended for us to live in our emotions. He offers us truth—a  safe, indestructible place to call home.