On Home Decorating and the Bible
Wed, 2010-03-03 10:29 — Heidi Bayly
My husband and I bought our first home three months ago. Since then, we’ve been busy making the house into a home. Sometimes these projects are a joy and rewarding. Other times they’re filled with dissatisfaction and drudgery.
But either way, our projects in home improvement can tell us a lot about where our hearts need improvement. So before starting your next home improvement or decorating project, take a moment to evaluate your motives. It may save you from weeks or months of dissatisfaction and drudgery.
We can work on a home for godly, unselfish motives, such as making it more functional for our family and welcoming to guests. But if we are honest with ourselves, we will realize that we have many other motives. We want to have a house people admire, one that reflects our infinitely good taste, our outstanding eye for the unique or beautiful. We may want to fulfill the lust of the eyes and have an excuse for pouring over home decorating magazines and websites. Or we may just be looking for a nice idol we can polish up and make into something beautiful—something to usurp God’s place in our heart. Maybe you think that last statement is a bit melodramatic, but ask yourself if you’ve ever been so consumed with thinking about, meditating on, and researching God’s Word as you have been about a choice of paint color, or a brand of dishwasher. I’ve known woman after woman, myself included, who has agonized, researched, lost sleep, and obsessed about things as inconsequential as the color and style of drawer pulls, not to mention paint!
Many of us are willing to suffer, or even make our children and husbands and friends suffer for the cause of remodeling a kitchen, but how many of us are at all willing to do the same for the cause of Christ? How slow are we to get out of bed to read God’s Word, but how quick when there’s a really, really good garage sale starting at 7 am? Do we ever get so immersed in God’s Word that we lose track of time and, suddenly, it’s midnight? Are we ever a slave to God in the way that we are to our home improvement projects?
Let us remind ourselves what we are living for, what is worth sacrificing time, energy and money for:
“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12: 33-34)
If our hearts are obsessed with wall colors, kitchen cabinets, and curtains, we are putting our hope in things that do not satisfy. In God’s mercy, He won’t allow us to have satisfaction in those things, so we will be dissatisfied and discontent with all our toil. Yet there’s a better way:
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:20-21)
When we have our hearts fixed on Christ, His work, and His glory, He will bless our efforts in homemaking:
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
“All these things” do include material needs. But when He gives us these, it’s for His glory and purposes, not our own. We could go on, but then that would be starting another blog post. For now, it would do us all good to memorize Matthew 6, wouldn’t it? And maybe say it as a mantra each time we begin or desire a new home project.
Note: The women who post on our ClearNote Ladies' Blog have requested a room of their own where they are free to teach and have conversations without the complication of men responding to what they write. The blog, then, is by and for women. Brothers, we ask that you refrain from commenting. Thank you!
Comments
Thank you Heidi for reminding
Thank you Heidi for reminding us all to consider where our treasures lie. Nobody walking into my house would think it is home decor that I hold precious in my heart, but the bit about getting up for good garage sales struck right home. God is so very merciful to us and patient with us.
I'm sure this will convict
I'm sure this will convict many hearts, Heidi. Thank you for this very insightful message.
A few years ago my husband and I wanted our home to be a testimony to others who enter it. Instead of putting a lot of time and money into home decor we decided to add more family photos, the ten commandments, and even a picture frame holding the armor of God which we made up on the computer. We want people to see what is truly precious in our life. Now, we do have some items which are meaningless, but we want our home decor to reflect our relationship with Christ. Framed Bible verses in the bathroom start many conversations!
Hopefully, as christian women we can find creative ways to witness to others even through home decorating.
Heidi, I think in our culture
Heidi, I think in our culture hospitality is one of the tools of evangelism that is most effective. When people enter a home that is hiding nothing, but where a vibrant love of God spurs every action, a yearning for God is awakened. May this be my goal instead of attaining a magazine's gloss.
Heidi, this post rings very
Heidi, this post rings very true for me. Here we are staying home with our kids instead of going to work and putting them in daycare. And yet we find that no where can we go and be safe from having to fight sin and pride. God has given us so many good and beautiful gifts, including homes to keep straight and decorate and make comfortable for the family. And yet, no good gift will ever be safe from the danger of us allowing it to takes God's place in our heart. Our hearts our idol factories, and are constantly looking to find our purpose apart from God. We will have to always guard against this. I think that what it looks like to keep a home well without making it our source of hope, is that we are creative and resourceful with what we are given and most of all content. We work hard cleaning, but we never hesitate to invite someone in because it isn't perfect. We want to be hard workers, but we don't want to put up a facade. We want to have an atmosphere of peace and not disorder, but not try to intimidate others by our superb organizational skills.
Inviting people into my home when it's not perfect is something I really struggle with. However, I am so relieved when I go over to someone else's home and the home is at least a little messy. Nothing is more disheartening to a friendship for me that showing up at someone's house (who has many kids) unannounced only to find that every thing is in perfect shipshape. It makes me never want to have them over!
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