Drawn from my archives
When my friend Elaine comes over, she makes herself at home. Her family knows where the fridge is, they know where the drinks are, and they know that they don’t have to knock when they visit. They’re welcome anytime and the door is always open. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re friends for 20 years. When you’ve babysat each other’s children and shared two decades of your life, you start to feel more like family than friends.
As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded of Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:17, where he writes,
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
The word “dwell” there comes from the Greek word katoikeō (Strong’s G2730) which means to settle in or to house permanently.
If you’re anything like me, you have two kinds of friends:
The ones that we see from time to time, and the ones who are a big part of our lives. The ones we rarely talk to, and the ones who are so comfortable in our homes they feel more like family than friends. Paul is telling us here that Christ wants to settle in.
He wants to be an integral part of our lives, not just someone we turn to on Sundays.
Notice the words of this verse,
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20, KJV)
You see, when they supped together, or when they broke bread together in the Bible it was an intimate occasion, more-so than having coffee with a friend would be today. They literally broke pieces off of the same loaf of bread, and then they would dip that bread into a shared pot of stew or vinegar mixture on the table. The symbolism behind this is unity and friendship.
And so we see that God delights in His people. He loves us. He wants to spend time with us. He wants to be an intimate friend Who is part of our everyday life.
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Tilling the Soil
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That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love. (Ephesians 3:17, KJV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife