Christ Dwelling Within

Imagine a house where one door always stays shut when company comes. The Lord is standing at that door, talking with the owner of the house.

He says, "You would rather I did not come in here."

The owner says, "It is not ready yet. Give me a week."

He says, "You have said that about this room for eleven years."

The owner says, "Then come in as a guest. Sit in the front room. I keep that part of the house tidy for exactly this."

He says, "A guest is what you want. It is not what I asked for."

That difference is the heart of Paul's prayer, and it sits in one Greek verb: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." The word translated "dwell" means to settle down for good, to make your home somewhere. Greek had another word for staying a short while, the way a lodger or a foreigner stays in a place, and Paul does not use it. He is on his knees asking that Christ would move in, and not just visit. He prays this for people who already believed, which tells you that keeping Christ in the front room is a real and common arrangement among Christians.

Then look at what Paul says grows in a house like that: "rooted and grounded in love." He puts a farm and a building side by side. Roots go down where nobody can see them, and a foundation is laid underneath a house. You cannot see either one from the street, but both decide whether a storm can knock you over.

So think again of that house and the one door that stays shut. You keep the front room tidy, and it is truly pleasant, but Christ is asking for the room with eleven years behind the door. He is coming to live there, and not to inspect the property, so that the love you are rooted in can reach every room you have.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 327 is Every Weight (Hebrews 12:1).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna