Bought for a Purpose
A poor man lived alone in his little house. One day a rich man came by and offered him a good price for it. He would be able to move into town and into a care unit for the money he would receive, so he agreed to sell it.
The poor man felt a sense of pride because the rich man had wanted his old house, so he busied himself patching the roof and repairing the walls. He scrubbed the walls and the floor and washed the windows. He even painted the main room. Although it was still only a little old house, he made quite a difference and was pleased with the result. He felt a little better about accepting such a high price for his house.
When the money was paid and arrangements were made to move him to the care unit, the new owner immediately began to tear down and demolish the house. The old man was aghast and cried out “Why are you pulling it down? I repaired it. I cleaned it. It looks so nice. WHY would you pull it down?”
The new owner explained that he hadn’t wanted the HOUSE; he had only wanted the SITE. He had paid a large sum of money, not for the house, but for the site,
on which he would create a completely NEW building.
No matter how well I was able to patch myself up;
no matter how much I cleaned myself,
I was useless to God.
I could NEVER meet His standard of perfection.
No amount of “cleaning” or reformation
could make me acceptable to Him.
(Ephesians 2:8-9 Titus 3:5 Romans 4:5)
In fact, the very best about me was like filthy rags in His sight.
(Isaiah 64:6)
The Bible tells us:
~ when we are “in Christ” (when we become a child of God)
we become A NEW CREATION.
OLD things are gone and ALL things are made new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
~ I no longer live but Christ lives in me
Galatians 2:20
~ I am NOT MY OWN, for I have been BOUGHT with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
God paid an ENORMOUS price to purchase me
but He cannot use me unless my SELF is broken down.
HE WANTS THE EMPTY SITE – MY EMPTY SELF
so that
HE CAN CREATE a NEW ME
and FILL ME with HIS FULLNESS.
(Ephesians 3:19, 4:13)
I am saved, but is self buried?
Is my one, my only aim
Just to honour Christ my Saviour,
Just to glorify His Name?
In full and glad surrender
I give myself to Thee;
Thine utterly and only
And evermore to be.
O Son of God who lov’st me,
I will be Thine alone;
And all I have and am Lord,
Shall henceforth be Thine own.
Reign over me, Lord Jesus;
O make my heart Thy throne!
It shall be Thine, dear Saviour,
It shall be Thine alone!
O come and reign, Lord Jesus;
Rule over everything!
And keep me always loyal
And true to Thee, my King.
Frances Ridley Havergal 1836-79
MEETING IN THE CLOUDS 
Hi Cloudwatcher,
I just found you on Rob Barkman’s site this evening. I really like the little blurb on the right of your site with the verse that explains what it relates to – 1 Thess 4:16-17. .
This story certainly speaks to me just like the others. Our purpose – to be recreated into His likeness, to live as mirrors of Him. Thanks for sharing and inspiring others with your words.
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Hi Joy. Welcome and thanks for the encouragement.
I look forward to getting to know you and to sharing with you.
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Hi Angela,
Truly, this post touched my heart, and moved me to tears! Jesus paid an enormous price for me, wretched that I am! I am so grateful, that the Lord loved me, while I was yet undone and in sin! He paid a debt He did not owe, and I owed a debt I could not pay! What a Savior!
“In full and glad surrender I give myself to Thee; Thine utterly and only And evermore to be.” My soul says yes, yes, yes, to my Lord! I was so encouraged by this post, as well as the comments that followed. Absolutely wonderful! May I ever strive to die daily, to sinful flesh!
May God continue to bless you, Angela, and to use you for His glory!
Paulette
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Hi Paulette, Thank you for your encouragement.
When we think of the ENORMITY of God’s love for us – that He gave His perfect, sinless Son to become sin for us, even when we were His enemies, going about our lives with absolutely no thought of Him – well, it blows the mind! How can we do other than give ourselves in full surrender!?
Roll on that day when we will see Him face to face and then we will be free from the very presence of sin and be able to praise and worship Him with COMPLETENESS of devotion.
O the joy to see Thee reigning,
Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy name confessing,
Worship, honour, glory, blessing,
Brought to Thee with glad accord.
Frances Ridley Havergal
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Thank you, Angela.
What a wonderful post!! Thank you so much :-)
“Reign over me, Lord Jesus;
O make my heart Thy throne!
It shall be Thine, dear Saviour,
It shall be Thine alone!”
As someone told me years ago, “He redeemed me … He has a right to rule me” ;-)
All His,
ann
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Yes, He has the right. It often amazes me that when we have so often experienced His overwhelming love and care for us and the way He overrules on our behalf, that we yet again try to run our own lives at times. Will we ever learn? O hasten the day when the old nature will not be present anymore and we will forever love and willingly obey! I believe that day draws closer.
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He has given you such a gift. Thank you for using it for Him and for us. This one has me in tears. It’s really doing a work in me. May I let Him tear it all down so that I can be made new in Him.
God bless you and your passion for Him!
love, deb
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Hi Debbie. Thanks for your words of encouragement.
It is not until we are empty that God can fill us. As long as there is some of “me” in me, I cannot be filled with Him. The problem is that even though I KNOW that His will is best; that life under His control is far, far, far better than I could make it, I still let myself creep back in and thus minimise what He can do in me and through me.
One day, when we see Him, we shall be like Him and then we’ll know the boundless joy of full and complete surrender – and we’ll wonder what held us back so long while here on earth.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Angela
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I appreciated this post.
I am saved, but is self buried?
Is my one, my only aim
Just to honour Christ my Saviour,
Just to glorify His Name?
So often, it is easy to forget about already being saved when I can still see so much self that is not yet dead and buried. And, it can be frustrating to want desperately to move ahead with the demolition of the old shack when there is a strong temptation to try to turn around and run back to be sure I have actually accepted Christ’s offer of salvation.
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Hi Heather.
I’m afraid that as long as we are in this life, we will see and experience the old nature trying to exert itself. I think of Paul’s words in Romans 6.
In verse 5 he makes a definite statement that IF we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we SHALL BE ALSO in the likeness of His resurrection. This is also borne out in several other Scriptures.
verse 6-7, says we KNOW our old nature is crucified with Christ, so we shouldn’t serve sin, because we are FREED from the bondage of sin.
verse 11-12 tells us to RECKON ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God, and not let sin REIGN in us.
verse 13-14 tells us to YIELD (a complete and full surrender) ourselves to God and sin will not have dominion over us.
We will always have a struggle with our old nature, but isn’t it wonderful that God has promised that we are not alone and that – when we allow Him to control us – we are “more than conquerors” through Him?
In Christ
Angela
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Thank you for the reminder and encouragement, Angela.
The past several months have been a bit of a struggle for me in the area of the tension between Spirit and flesh. One encounter after another triggers the thought that if I was really converted and REALLY love the Lord, then I would just be good all the time. And doubt begins to crowd out the confidence that I need to trust Jesus’ faithfulness rather than my own feelings.
Your posts and comments often say exactly what I need to hear, though.
I am thankful the Lord has directed you to share your love for Him in this way.
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