The House That Shared The Gospel

January 26, 2015  - By Gretchen Saffles

The “estate sale” sign caught my and made my heart start pumping quickly. All the good deals starting rushing through my head and I began to feel the urge to go right away. I love a good garage sale. My mom taught me to be a bargain shopper at an early age and we still love sharing our deals with each other! I have only been to two other estate sales in my life – one was completely overwhelming and one was completely underwhelming. I had no idea what we were about to step into.
We pulled up to the house and walked inside. To the right was a library and on the ceiling was a magnificent map stretched across the length of the room. Immediately we walked in to see what this mysterious person was reading in the world traveler library! Book after book was about Jesus. Bibles and commentaries filled the shelves. My mom and I looked at each other with curious smiles and kept walking around to see what other treasure we could find. The only estate sales I have ever been to were because of the death of a someone’s family member. My mind was going crazy trying to figure out who had died to be selling every treasure in their house.

The entire house was filled with artifacts and memorabilia from other countries. India…Africa…Israel! World travel makes my heart beat wildly and I couldn’t help but touch all of them and wonder more about their stories. We walked upstairs to the bedrooms and I finally had to ask who these people were and what had happened. I found one of the ladies in charge of the sale and asked “Why is this person selling everything?”

And her response shocked me.

“They are Christians and have decided to sell everything and move to Africa to share the gospel and help impoverished children,” she answered with a smile on her face.

I walked away in awe with my heart praising wildly! Someone truly did die. They were following Jesus command to “die daily” and take up their cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). They knew that Jesus is a treasure more valuable than an entire house full of books, furniture, and memories. The gospel had captivated their hearts and they literally left everything behind, including full medicine cabinets, family history, and favorite books. They had died so that they might live.

The house was no longer a deal for me to catch. It was a living, breathing display of the gospel. Though I may never meet the people who left their lives to go to the nations and share Jesus, their obedience has radically changed my heart. How deeply am I attached to my possessions? Am I willing to sell everything to move to an uncomfortable place just to share the love of Jesus? Does my life, my home, and my family point others to Christ? These questions have been swirling around in my head ever since I walked through that empty house.

On this Monday morning, I pray that you would take a moment to take inventory of your heart. We constantly need to test and examine our ways and evaluate what our hands are holding onto that is anything other Jesus.

May our houses and our hearts proclaim the gospel of Christ – from this day forth and forevermore. And may we die to ourselves daily so that we might live to Christ, the Everlasting.

Gretchen

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  1. Funmi says:

    Amen. That is such an inspiring story.I pray to have the boldness it takes to leave everything and follow the Spirit’s leading anytime He wants me to.

    http://www.desiringyou.blogspot.com

  2. What a beautiful picture of the gospel!

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