In the fall of 2008, my husband Marc and I became
landlords. We moved into the parsonage of the church where I worked, and we
decided to rent out the house we had bought as a newly married couple. The house was nothing special, but it was
something we had carefully decorated, updated, cared for and held many special
memories for us. When time came for a new lease and another month's rent, we
discovered the woman on the lease was in jail, had others living there who
didn't have rent money and the house was completely trashed. What followed
included phones calls to lawyers, locksmiths, a dumpster to remove all the
trash, gutting the kitchen, insurance claims, thousands of dollars that we
certainly didn't have, every single free night and Saturday we had for about
six months and asking help from family, friends, and our church.
As we filled the dumpster with loads of trash I
kept asking how in the world people could live this way. How could she let her
children color in permanent marker all over the walls and ceilings? How could
she let other people live there who couldn't pay? Why were there eleven
mattresses in a three bedroom house? How
could she let a leaky faucet ruin an entire kitchen and never correct the
simple problem? How could she sell lawn mowers and other things out of the
garage that didn't belong to her ? How could she allow drugs, alcohol, tobacco
and pornography to exist in the same home as young children? How could she break
doors, put huge holes in the walls, ruin all the carpet and wood floors and never
think about the damage she was doing to us? How could she be so completely
selfish, neglectful, filthy, ignorant, broken and utterly disgusting?
As Marc and I were the landlords of a simple, one
hundred year old house, God is much more significantly the landlord of the
earth, and the creator of all life. He
gave us the responsibility of caring for his world and one another.
Genesis 1:29-31 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on
the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the
birds in the sky and all the creatures that move
along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every
green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was
morning—the sixth day.
We are God's people, yet we have acted and
continue to act like the renters of our Quimby house. We are completely
selfish, neglectful, filthy, ignorant, broken and utterly disgusting. Does God
not have every right to ask us the questions I wanted to ask of my renter? How
can we continue to live this way? How can we do so much damage to ourselves,
others and the world and not think of the damage we do to our Lord? We have
taken the good gifts of God and exchanged them for unworthy imitations.
“There is no one righteous, not
even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:11 - 12
It
took longer than I care to admit for me to forgive my renter. The anguish she
caused and my disgust at her lifestyle were overwhelming and I am not sure she
has any idea what her actions did. It felt good to be furious with her. I
needed a direction for my wrath and anger, and she was the natural recipient.
In my mind, she deserved my judgment and unforgiveness.
God's
wrath also needs a direction and we are the natural recipient. We deserve God's
judgment and have no right to be forgiven, but instead he imputed the guilt of
our sin to Christ, and we are declared righteous in his sight.
"But God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
We all, like
sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6
Our sin and brokenness is so much worse than a simple ruined
kitchen and marker on a wall. God's wrath is much more severe than our anger as
landlords of the ruined house. Yet, the awesome gift of God's grace is more than
we can comprehend. His love for his people is deeper, wider, higher and more
intense than we can fathom.
"Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies." Psalm 36:5
your faithfulness to the skies." Psalm 36:5
I will not
forget the feelings I experienced through the discovery of the trashed house,
the rebuilding and restoration of it and finally the selling of it. It will
serve as a reminder of the amazing reconciliation to God that has been offered
to us through Christ. Praise be to God!
