Renovations of the Soul

I love watching TV shows where they are renovating a house.

The goal is usually to make the house new and improved, more up-to-date, useable, and easier to clean. But to achieve that goal there usually has to be something torn out. I've noticed that sometimes the things come out very easily -- the whole countertop lifts off in one piece, the cupboards come straight down off the walls, the tile comes right  off the floor, the wallpaper peels right off.

But other times it takes hours to peel every little piece of wallpaper off the wall because perhaps it wasn't put on properly or perhaps it has been there for so long that it has really adhered to the surface. Or tile that has to be chiseled up into millions of pieces because it doesn't come up in nice squares.

Sometimes it's because the contractor didn't do a quality job, sometimes it's because homeowners tried to do a professional job although they are amateurs, sometimes it's because it's just been there for so long that's what happens.

Well I was thinking about this the other day and a song came on the radio with the words "beautifully broken" and it made me think of another song I have heard with the words "sweetly broken". And I began to think, as God is working in my life trying to build me into what he wants me to be, how is His renovation going?  Is demo smooth?

I thought about all the poor construction that has gone into my life because of my sporadic Bible study habits or listening to bad preachers or false teachers or by my own selfish, sinful, wicked desires. And I wonder how easy do I make it for God to do the demo?

Do I hold my sin close to me like bad wallpaper or old tile to where God can't just lift it all out in one nice big piece but has to chisel away and break it into millions of pieces?

I don't feel like I am sweetly or beautifully broken.