Remodeled Homes

I've got all my kids hooked on home improvement shows. We'll pile on the couch, and talk through design choices, the fickle nature of taste, all the while anticipating "the reveal." We like them because we love to see radical improvement as homes move from disaster to beauty. There's something innately redemptive about a broken home not merely being mended but made to shine. What would our families be like if we hoped for redemption like that? If we worked toward that end, allowing the Master Carpenter to remodel our families? Here are three tips.

Remodeling Tip One: Build the right foundation.

Psalm 127:1 puts it so well: "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." If we'd really like to see extreme makeovers in our homes, God must be the architect and general contractor of our homes. Paul affirms this when he writes, "For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:10-11). I see families struggle trying to do exterior remodels without first addressing the foundational issues. They're like the unwise builders Jesus refers to who construct a pretty home on sandy soil. No amount of beautification on the outside matters when the storms come and knock down that home.

Remodeling Tip Two: Get bang for your buck.

Just like homeowners pour resources into an old kitchen because a new kitchen adds value, we should focus on the areas of family life where we'll find more return for our labor. What areas?

• Practicing Kindness. We are often kinder to strangers than we are to the people in our homes.
• Eating together. Studies show that kids who come from families who have dinner together are less likely to be promiscuous or delve into drugs.
• Becoming the people we want our kids to become. Parents tend toward directing children's behavior without first looking to their own. A renewed home starts with renewed parents. Get your heart right first, and watch the remodel happen in your children's lives.

Remodeling Tip Three: Train your apprentices.

Consider parenting as a holy privilege, as your part of building the dynamic kingdom of God. How did Jesus build his kingdom? By making disciples (See Matt. 28:18-20). Children are our set-apart apprentices, our "twelve disciples" whom we will send out into this sin-darkened world. As Jesus did with his disciples, walk alongside the road with your kids. Listen. Teach. Encourage. Send them out on little excursions and regroup afterwards. Above all, remember how quickly time passes, how fast our window of influence closes.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we took these remodeling tips seriously? How would the workaday world change if we built our homes on God's foundation, concentrated on the most important areas of family life, and trained our children to follow Jesus? Our "reveal" to the world would show one thing: lives can be completely remodeled—an enticing invitation to those longing for redemption.