A Royal Guest
In Europe some years ago, a young man and young lady were walking together along a river discussing a mutual acquaintance. The young man said, “Mary has what I call a radiant personality.” “That’s right,” his friend agreed. “But how do you account for it?”
Just then they came to a wide vista on the path, with a long view of the river flowing along in the sunlight. Pointing to the opposite bank, the young man said, “See that impressive old castle over there? When I was a small boy I used to sit right here in the evenings and look at it. I knew what was going on inside by the number of lights that were burning. If only a few people were home, just a faint glimmer filtered through the windows. But when company came, many lamps were lit and the place became a thing a beauty. One time when a member of the royal family visited, the entire castle was illuminated. I have never seen such brilliance.”
Then turning to his companion, he said, “I think that’s the only way I am able to explain Mary’s personality. She’s entertaining a royal guest.”
This is one of the best descriptions I know of the Christian life. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a royal guest living inside of our lives through the person of the Holy Spirit. The question is, how good of a host are we to God’s Spirit? Do we give him full access to our lives or do we allow him only limited access to our lives while keeping some parts off limits.
Imagine having a guest stay in your house. Before you leave for work in the morning, you tell your guest to make himself at home. “Help yourself to anything. My house is your house,” you tell him. After you leave, your guest goes into the kitchen to find something to eat only to discover that you have locked the cabinets and refrigerator. So your guest sits on the couch to watch TV and discovers you have a lock on the TV. He can’t get it to turn on. He heads toward the bathroom, but once again it is locked. He has very little access because most of the rooms are locked. Some host you are. My house is your house, huh?
We would certainly never treat a guest this way (at least I hope you wouldn’t). It would just be rude. And yet, do we treat the Holy Spirit like that? When we invite Jesus to come into our lives and be our lord, He sends his Holy Spirit to fill us. We are sometimes tempted, however, to give Jesus very limited access to our lives. Perhaps we don’t allow him into our dating relationships. Maybe we don’t want to give him access to our entertainment life. We think that it is none of his business what we want to watch and listen to and so we shut him out of that area of our life. Even though he is God and we have invited him to dwell within us, we are tempted to limit his access to much of our lives. We keep him out of our business dealings, our social calendar, our relationships and more.
Without realizing it, we may be showing a lack of good manners and hospitality to the very presence of God in our lives. If Jesus Christ is truly Lord (and He is), then the only option is to surrender every area of our hearts and lives into his hands. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit , who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19
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Your life is like a house that the Holy Spirit has come to live inside of. As he comes in, He wants to clean house and redecorate. He longs to fill the rooms of our lives with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and these are what he wants to fill your heart with. Will you let him make your heart his home? Or will he be a house guest with limited access? And that’s the Word.
