This month marks the third anniversary of our experience as homeowners. Being a homeowner definitely has its advantages and disadvantages.

It’s nice that our rent does not keep going up but on the other hand, there’s something to be said for having a landlord that must take care of all the home improvements.

Since we moved in 3 years ago, we have made many improvements on our house. Home Depot has become my favorite hangout.

Recently, with interest rates lowering, we refinanced our house and were able to pull out some money to embark on our most ambitious project ever—remodeling the kitchen.

As we’ve thought about redoing our kitchen, there are basically two ways we could go. We could resurface the existing cabinets, or remove the old cabinets and replace them with new cabinets.

Believe it or not, this is exactly the choice we have in the Christian life.

In Romans 12:2, Paul exhorts us as believers not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but instead, he charges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Romans 12:1, 2

The Christian life is not just about getting to heaven, though that is certainly a major benefit. Jesus wants to transform our lives and conform us to His image.

The problem is that we are continually tempted to conform to the world’s way of thinking about life. The world, through the media and political system, is constantly urging us to accept values and philosophies that are contrary to God’s Word.

The solution? Be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Transformation takes place when we replace our old thinking with the reality of the world as portrayed in God’s word.

The word “renew” is actually a Greek word that means “renovate”. To renovate means to completely overhaul.

What often happens in the Christian life is that we don’t overhaul our thinking. Instead, we simply try to change our behavior.

That’s exactly what happens when we resurface our cabinets. When you resurface cabinets, they put a thin new layer of veneer over the old facings, and then add new doors and a new countertop.

The problem is that the cabinets are the same. It’s the same old junky cabinets with a new exterior.

In Matthew 23:27, Jesus exposed the Pharisees as hypocrites because they “resurfaced” their exterior, making themselves look good on the outside. The problem was that they never addressed the internal issues of their lives.

What are the issues in your life that you have a tendency to resurface rather than renovate?

Please continue to pray for us as we continue on our own journey of spiritual transformation and as we help students to renovate their thinking so that they too can experience the kind of rich, fulfilling, transforming lives that Jesus wants for us.

Pray for our summer. Dave will be coaching the Kazakhstan summer project team and will be traveling to Kazakstan this summer. We will also be traveling to Colorado this summer for our National Staff Conference.

Pray for our planning for next year. Pray for our selection of next year’s leadership team.

Pray for the new staff and the 4 interns who will be with us next fall. Pray that they would all raise their support to be here by September.