We were in my kitchen surrounded by other women, sipping wine and sharing summer stories. Our conversation turned to houses, and I began complaining about the fact that I can’t seem to find contentment in my house no matter what. I always see the things I want to change and I’m constantly striving to make our home more beautiful, more updated, more functional. I want every single part of my home to be perfect, but I don’t have the budget to do everything I’d like to do, and even the things I can do can’t be done all at once. So our refinished floors looked great for a few years while we saved up to renovate our bathroom, and now our master bath looks awesome but our hardwoods need to be ripped out and replaced. I told my friend I couldn’t understand why God wasn’t providing the contentment I’d been asking him to provide. I was being sarcastic . . . sort of. And she responded, in her always calm, sweet, and empathetic way, “I know, I know. It’s a daily renewal, isn’t it?”
A
daily renewal.
Daily. As in . . . every day.
I
pray for many things every day, but they usually have to do with the health, safety,
and happiness of my family and friends. Sure, I throw out frequent requests about my
desire to feel content in my circumstances, but although I know God cares about
my desires – hard to deny that when he gave his one and only son to have a
relationship with me – I find it hard to believe he wants to hear about my wish
to walk by the chipped travertine in our laundry room without cringing.
The
thing is . . . God sees that chipped travertine too, and he knows it bothers me. I’m guessing he could easily fix it in the
middle of the night while I was sleeping and boy wouldn’t I be able to testify
that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS to all those other perfectionists in the world who get
the Houzz.com weekly email update and save dozens of photographs to their idea
book and who knows how many homeowners and contractors and interior decorators
would come to Jesus after they heard my story?!?!?!
Of
course, that’s not how God works. He
performs miracles every day . . . every second, in fact, if we just take a look
around . . . but repairing tile flooring at 2 am is not likely on his list of
miraculous to-dos.
You
see, God doesn’t want me to ask Him for help with something that’s bothering me
every once in a while. He doesn’t
want me to ask for forgiveness or patience or happiness or contentment or a stainless
steel French door refrigerator when the
mood strikes me. God wants to me to
come to him every single day for every single thing.
Daily
renewal.
What
God wants most is to show us how much he loves us, to show us he is always by
our sides, to show us his unrelenting care and concern for our lives. And since he knew we were sinners and sending
his son to die on a cross for our sins wouldn’t be enough to completely
convince us of all those things, he designed us with a deep yearning to be in a
constant relationship with him. A
relationship of daily renewal.
We
can’t simply need God when we’re feeling low.
We can’t need him just when we get stuck or sick or find ourselves in
the midst of suffering. And it’s not
enough to go to him only in thanksgiving.
We can’t call out to God simply to praise him for the blessings in our
lives when they seem abundant.
God
wants ALL of us, ALL the time.
He
wants to hear from me when I’m low. He
wants to hear from me when I’m stuck or sick or suffering. He wants to hear from me when all I can do is
worship him for his glorious splendor and goodness and mercy and grace. He even wants to hear from me when I’m asking
him, AGAIN, for contentment in a home that doesn’t have the kitchen of my
dreams.
When
we go to God for daily renewal . . . when we let go of our pride and our busyness
and our need to control . . . when we kneel before Him and fully surrender. . . that’s when we share with him our desire to let
him work in our lives. To change our
hearts. To transform us into the people
we are meant to be. People who choose peace
and radiate joy. People who serve others
and create love.
People
who reflect Him.
Every day.
Romans 12:2
. . . be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .
