By Lois Evans
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…” Colossians 3:16
Is God’s Word at home in your heart? The word dwell in today’s verse means to make oneself at home. Paul doesn’t just want us to hear the Word but to give it access to every part of ourselves.
We are really telling a lie when we say to our guests, “Come on in and make yourselves at home.” We don’t mean that literally. They aren’t free to go into our bedroom and look in our closets or open our desk and examine our personal papers. What we usually mean when we say, “Make yourself at home” is, “Come into this specific room and stay right here.”
But if Christ is going to be the Lord of our lives, we can’t place restrictions on Him. We have to say, “Lord, check the closets, go into the attic, look inside the desk, and show me what I need to throw away or rearrange. Make Yourself completely at home.”
Now, when the Lord God starts making Himself at home in our hearts, some painful “redecorating” decisions will have to be made. God’s Word will show you some things that need to be thrown out. It will set your house in order, even though the process may hurt. But God hurts us only to heal us.
Letting the Word be at home in you means coming before God with honesty and openness, ready to act on whatever he reveals to you. Colossians 3;16 goes on to say that we must also come to God in an attitude of teachability and worship, with a heart that is full of ‘psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
This “attitude of gratitude” is critical. When you invite God to make Himself at home, begin by thanking Him for what he has already done.
