Under construction or Unraveled

Have you heard of the Winchester Mystery House? The sprawling house in San Jose, California, is famous for its huge size and irregular layout. It was under constant construction for 38 years, eventually coming to have almost 160 rooms.

Despite its great size, the house can be considered unfinished in many ways. There are dozens of doors that open on blank walls, others with knobs on only one side and inside doors with screens on them. There are stairways that reach no destination, chimneys with no stoves, and floors that you can see through.

The construction shows a fascination with the number 13. All the stairways are constructed in series of 13 steps. The chandeliers all have 13 lights. Every wall has 13 panels. Each glass door has 13 pieces.

Winchester House is very pretty on the outside. Inside there are splashes of beauty but mostly it's a rambling mess of odities with fragmented decor.

There are a good many people is this world that could be described in the same way. They look quite good on the outside appearing to have it all and living the "good life". They are envied by those who don't know who they are on the inside.

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart". 1 Samuel 16:7(NLT)

A pearl to string: Some people have a difficult or even horrible childhoods and spend their adult life overcoming the pain of it. Others have such a wonderful childhood that they spend their adult life trying to recreate that loved and secure feeling. Of course there are many that grow up somewhere inbetween. The point I am trying to make here is we were all created with something missing. God created all of us with a God shaped vacuum in our heart. We're under constant construction and in danger of becoming a rambling mess of odities with fragmented decor. Jesus is what's missing and until He is found a beautiful life can unravel at any juncture. The Bible teaches that it's only the One who made man's heart that can also fill it.

Before we are born, there's a hole that is the passageway for blood to enter our pre-natal heart. In most people the hole heals up within a few days after birth. For a few, it doesn't go away. And it really needs to be repaired. So everyone IS born with a hole in their heart. Not just physically, but spiritually. But unlike that physical hole in your heart, the spiritual one doesn't go away unless you let the greatest physician of all fill the hole.

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit". Titus 3:5 (NIV)

Know you are loved,
Lyndi