Christ Dwelling Within

A house with one door in it that never gets opened when there is company.

The voice at the door: You would rather I did not come in here.

The answer: It is not ready. Give me a week.

The voice: You have said that about this room for eleven years.

The answer: Then come in as a guest. Sit in the front room. That part of the house is presentable and I keep it that way for exactly this.

The voice: A guest is what you want. It is not what I asked for.

And that is the whole distinction in Paul's prayer, sitting in one Greek verb. The word he uses for dwell means to settle permanently, to take up residence. There is a different word for staying temporarily, for lodging, for being a resident alien somewhere, and he does not use it. He is on his knees asking that Christ would move in rather than visit, and he asks it for people who were already believers, which tells you that the front room arrangement is a real and common one.

Then watch what he says grows in a house like that. Not tidiness. Rooted and grounded in love, which mixes a farm and a building in the same breath: roots going down where nobody can see them, and a foundation poured underneath. Both are invisible from the street, and both are what determines whether the weather gets a vote on who you are.

So: the house, and the one door in it that never gets opened when there is company. He is not asking for the front room, which you keep presentable for exactly this purpose and which is genuinely pleasant. He is asking for the room with eleven years behind the door. And he is not coming through to assess the property. He is moving in.

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