Inspection of the house within

This week my wife and I began a new challenge and blessing at the same time. We had recently decided to look for a new home, and we found one we like, made an offer and had accepted the counter offer. There is something exciting and scary at the same time about this but we are confident that it is the right decision. One of our first steps was to get the home inspected. To my surprise, I was amazed at what the Lord helped show me through this step.

Our home inspector was extremely thorough in his work, and found things that were unknown to me. We searched for the obvious first; water damage, leaks, structural issues, all the usual things. What I didn't expect to find were the things below the surface, (did we have the required insulation, was the electrical good, the slope of the ground...) Things I wouldn't have thought of. The inspector left no stone un turned.

My thoughts began to shift to the human condition of man, on the outside mankind appears to be in good shape and has no issues but as his heart is inspected the good and bad are easily seen. God does this with us. 1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that "The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." God will look into the places of man that the eye cannot see. God is much more thorough in his examination than man will ever be.

Much like I am looking for a house that meets my criteria the Lord is looking at his people in the same way. Psalm 24:3-5 reminds us that the Lord is looking for a people who have clean hands and a pure heart. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

May we be a people who is not afraid to look inside and inspect the heart frequently so we can please the Lord. On the other hand its also helpful to have someone who can look for us. In the church world we call this accountable relationships. Had I not had a trusted person look inside my house, there would have been problems that I would never have known about and could have caused a ruin of my house. Well our spiritual life is no different. We need others to look inside and help judge our motives, and see if we are corrupt in areas. It may be unpleasant to learn of certain things at first but it is necessary for us to be who we were meant to be in Christ.