Who Is the Landlord of Your House?

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1 (KJV)

There is a story of an old woman who lived alone in a small shack of a house. The paint was peeling, the roof was leaking and the floor was sagging, but it was all she could afford at the time. Her landlord was an ugly old man with a hateful temper who scared her.

Once a month, he would come and bang on the door and when she would open it, he would be standing there breathing down her neck demanding the rent. She would quickly give it to him so he would go away.

One day, there came a knock at the door and she opened it, fearing the nasty landlord, but was surprised to see a handsome young man standing there. He told her that he had purchased the house and he was the new landlord. He told her he wanted to fix the leak in the roof, repaint the house and repair the sagging floor. She hung her head in despair. Where would she live? She could hardly afford this dump she’d been living in.

When he realized the cause of her despair, be told her not to be alarmed. He was not going to force her out of the house. In fact, she was the reason he was making all of the repairs. He wanted her to have a house that was safe and secure and something she would be proud to call a home.

But that wasn’t even the best part. He told her that she would be able to live in the house from now on rent free.

Well, this seemed to be too good to be true. She waited every day for him to change his mind, but he didn’t. Over the next few weeks, he came and made all of the repairs he promised and even helped her plant flowers in front of the house. It was a dream come true. She couldn’t be happier.

Then one day, she heard a very loud, very familiar bang on the front door. She hesitated a moment and then she opened the door. There stood the nasty, mean landlord from before breathing down her neck demanding the rent. Should she pay him? Of course not! The house no longer belonged to him. He had no right to it nor did he have any right to harass her.

So what about us? We live in a world where this nasty, mean landlord scares us and demands things from us and makes our lives miserable. Then we are introduced to Jesus and he comes into our lives and cleans us up and makes everything beautiful. We go skipping through life and are happier than ever until we hear a knock on the door.

The enemy has no claim to you. Once you are in Christ, you are free. Romans 8:35-39 (NIV) says:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

We belong to the King of Creation. We no longer have to believe the lies of the enemy. So slam the door in his face and call out to the One who knows you, loves you and paid the price for you.

Thought for the day:  No one can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. It is time we started believing the Truth of God found in His Word over the lies of the enemy of this world.

Copyright © 2009 Susan Norris, used with permission.