House Guest

All of us have had guests in our homes.  We double up the kids in one room and make a place for the newcomers.  We clear a space in the closet for their clothes.  “Here’s your room,” we tell them.  “Here’s the bath.  Here are the extra towels.  Here’s the refrigerator and a key to the house.  Make yourself at home.  Our house is your house,” we say.

But suppose you come home one day to find your guest in your own bedroom going through your personal records.  He is reading your old lover letters, your tax reports and your will.  You clear your throat and try to be calm as you ask, “Are you looking for something I can help you with?”  But by the tone of your voice you are really asking, “What are you doing in here? You have no business in my personal papers!”

Your guest replies, “No, thank you.  I don’t need any help.  I was just curious about your personal affairs and thought these things would be interesting reading.”

By this time you cannot control your anger.  “You have no business prying into my personal papers.  That desk should not concern you.  Please close it immediately.”

Your guest responds, “I don’t understand you.  You said that I was to make myself at home, that your house was my house.”

“Well, I didn’t mean that you are free to pry into my personal affairs.”  And a friendship begins to unravel.

Have you ever been guilty of doing something like that to the Holy Spirit?  “Dear Holy Spirit, come and live in the temple of my body.  My heart is your abode.  Make yourself completely at home.”  But the searching question is:  have you given Him the key to every room, every closet, every desk?  Is there any part of your life that is off-limits to your Heavenly Guest?

If so, you are not filled with the Spirit.  Remember, we said it is impossible for the great God of the universe to be relegated to a back room of His own temple.

Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit, commitment

Adrian Rogers, The Power of His Presence (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1995), 54-55.