George Washington slept here...

Today I was listening to an interesting story about someone who had been given a guitar. It was a very nice guitar, top of the line. It was, however, extra special because it had been signed by Eric Clapton. Because of this, this guitar was extremely valuable. The new owner took great care of this guitar, making sure he cleaned it after each use, storing it in a special place - not exposing it to elements that might cause it harm. You get the picture...and I'm pretty sure you see where today's post is heading. 

All this got me to thinking about all the other things that we see as valuable because some great person signed it or used it. In the past, people would claim importance to some place that looked like just a shack to most people...its one claim to fame was that "George Washington slept here." The name of the famous person was used to garner recognition, prominence,  even money. It is not the HOUSE that gave the place value, but who had stayed there.

Tying these two stories together, they both got me to thinking...what makes a person valuable? Is it our gifts? What we look like? The other "houses" around us? No, what really makes a person valuable is who lives within the house...whose "signature" is on it.

Because Christ lives in me, I have value. So do you. I'm not going to "trash" the house, or bring in things that might destroy it or ugly it up. I'm not going to cover my "valuable guitar" with cheap stickers from a gumball machine. I'm not going to allow political ads, product billboards, or just plain weeds to diminish the importance of the dwelling. It's too important. No trash of un-forgiveness can be allowed, no language that paints the house in cheap neon green paint, no habits that block the view like a tacky billboard with lights. The focus isn't even on the house at all. The focus should be on Who lives there.

No, George Washington didn't live here, but the One who DOES is far greater than any man who has ever lived. That makes this house valuable. That makes me valuable...and it's what makes you valuable, too.

Romans 8:9-11 (MSG)

^9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!