DEMO COMES BEFORE CONSTRUCTION

A fence went up around our new building yesterday and the demo crew got to work.  They began tearing down the leftovers of the building’s past. Layers of junk are being hauled away. All the wire, lights, facades and building materials served a purpose at one time. Now they are in the way. Even parts of the foundation will soon be broken up and reestablished to hold up what we are building. Until we tear down the old, we aren’t ready to build for the future. Of course your life is like that too.

Demo is important work

If you try to build a new life in Christ on top of an old foundation, outdated belief systems, and garish facades, you are getting ahead of yourself. At some point you need to tear that stuff out. Our beliefs, habits, assumptions and even our personality don’t just need cosmetic upgrades. They need a major remodel! Some people try to add a little Jesus into their life without tearing down what was there before, then they give up on Jesus and say “that didn’t work”. Of course it didn’t! Do the demo first!

What do you need to tear down?

Are there remnants of your old life you never got rid of? Could there be coping strategies that served you in the past, but now are holding you back? Perhaps you have beliefs that have never fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. The Apostle Paul famously said it like this,

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5)

You won’t be able to love God with ALL your heart, soul and strength until you do the demo work. Tearing those things down is the heart of what we mean by repentance. It’s easier when you do it first. But it’s never too late to start over.