I’m sure most of you reading this have had to move before. When I think about my moves over the years as pastor’s wife (and we tend to have a few!), I think about a friend we met years ago in one of our churches. She loved to organize things. Her basement had a whole room for wrapping gifts, complete with dowel rods laced with rolls of paper lined up between the joists of the walls. Her cupboards also had all those coordinated organizers. Yes; she’s one of those amazing women!
She also had some organizing advice for me when we moved that I’m sure is all over the internet now in those “life hack” videos, but this was before the days of TikTok or Pinterest. Her suggestion when organizing: set aside three boxes—one to throw out, one to give away, and one to keep.
It’s great advice, and not just for moving but for life. When I even think about the clutter of thoughts in my head from day-to-day, I realize that I need those three boxes for my thoughts. That thought of irritation towards my husband over something petty: throw it out! That thought to send a text of encouraging words to a hurting friend: give it away, now; go send the text. That snatch of the Word that has been playing through my head throughout the day, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1 NIV): keep it. Yes; give thanks. He loves me. Forever.
So…why is it so hard to keep the Word instead of those thoughts of irritation or resentment or selfish anger? The struggle against the flesh is real. We cling to things we don’t need. Every time we have moved, we have had boxes of papers and junk that we weren’t sure if we might need (or we didn’t have time to sort) that just ended up getting thrown in a box and moving with us to our new home. That’s just it—they stayed there. Years later the stuff was still in a box, taking up space because we had a hard time letting go of it.
Jesus knew our struggle with this would be real, but I love what He promised His disciples in John 14. In the previous verses we read that He told the disciples He was going to go away and that they couldn’t come with Him. After all the years of walking and eating and living and traveling together, it was over. They had to move on; He was moving on and up to return to His Father, and they were staying.
They were heartbroken and bereft. We all know that feeling of losing home when we have to move and say goodbye. These followers of His were feeling that too, and this was Jesus’ comfort noted in verse 23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (emphasis added).
What a comforting promise! Did you read that? If you love me, He says, you will keep my Word. He promises that His disciples will keep His Word because He is going to come into them by His Holy Spirit and dwell in them, to make their home with them. You can’t not keep the Word when the Word dwells in you!
And when you love Him, when you place your trust in Him, He’s there!
I have the power to throw out the right things, give away the right things, and keep the Word because the Word always dwells in me.
And no matter where I move to, He moves with me.
There is no better place to live than in Him. No boxes needed.
Taking it Further:
What helps you when you are feeling that need for home or are missing a place or time that feels like it? How can you rest in Christ as your dwelling place at those moments?
