Fixer Upper 1 – Designs & All In Budget

There is this TV show called “Fixer Upper” that has become a national rage in America. A couple in Texas finds a home for someone else and then redesigns it and fixes it up. When I watch the show I often find myself wondering what those houses looked like when they were first finished. What did the first family to move in the house feel and experience while they lived there. But, over time and just choices the house fell into disrepair and sort of anarchy. Something that was great became a house in need of some fixing up. The line they use on the show is this: “We look for the worst house in the best neighborhood, and turn it into the best house in that neighborhood.”

We all start this way. We breathe our first breath and are handed to someone who sees us as the most beautiful baby ever born. David wrote about his feelings towards God because of feelings like this. He wrote in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well.” We all begin our lives as wonderful creations of God. Then life happens and time catches up with us and we become a bit of a fixer upper ourselves. It is not the actual plan for our lives but it is the way that life goes at times. God had plans for us and then over time and choices we end up a far cry from what we were created to become.

If we are going to fix up a house or a life we need to start with a couple of questions. The first question is, what design am I looking for? If you are going to redo a house you’ve got to have an idea about what you want it to become. The show has a designer who looks at the condition of the house and comes up with a design of what it can be become. She sits with the couple and reveals her plan and they can either give her thumbs up or down. They have to decide if they want to follow her advice and change their fixer upper into something great again.

So, our life design more than likely has not gone as planned. We end up with some cracks, leaks and sagging walls. So if we consult our creator what would his design for our lives look like? We do not have to worry or guess how he wants our lives to be designed. In Micah 6:8 a design is laid out for our lives. “The LORD has told you, human, what is good: he has told you what he wants from you: to do what is right to other people, love being kind to others, and live humbly, obeying your God.” So there it is the plan he has for our lives.

That we do what is right? That we make the right choice no matter what it costs us. That we seek justice for others and do not add to the misery their lives already contain. Will I seek to do the best instead of just enough? It is simply to just do what we know to be right.

That we love being kind to others. It is easy to be a jerk, anyone can do it. It is so easy to point out where someone has fallen short or has disappointed us. Piling on is what we call it, dumping something on someone or just plain old meanness. So being kind means we do not take a shot or share a nice word with them. It is do something nice to someone who may not deserve or really does deserve a kind act. It is not to just think about doing something, but instead to actually do something.

To we live humbly. This may be a complete shock to us, but it needs to be said for sure. We need to always remember that our house is not the greatest house on the block. We all should remember that no house is perfect. If we can live humbly then the people around us will be encouraged by our humility. As we go from room to room we will talk about what humility not only looks like, but truly is.

Last of all the design shows us that God wants us to obey him. Talk about something that can really try our beliefs. That we obey what God’s word and His promptings tell us to do can be a really taxing. There are a lot of things to consider and remember in the Bible. He wants us to obey Him not so He can do the superior dance of having us on a string. I used to think it was because He wanted to ruin my life. To make sure my fun was kept to a minimum at best. As I got older I began to realize that He was keeping me from harm. God wanted my life to stay on design, so he gave directions and help through the Bible.

The second question is, “What is my all in budget?” After all on the show they have a budget to buy a house and then fix it up. So they have a bottom line or all in budget. We have to ask ourselves what we would give up to have our lives fixed up like it once was. We are going to spend our lives making something. Cool thing is that we get to decide what our life becomes at the end of our lives. If we decide to knock down a wall there is not really a half way point. Once it is down it is down.

The time to decide what we want our fixer upper to become is before we start knocking down walls and picking wood for a kitchen island. Are you willing to give up your design for God’s? He has an idea about how to fix up our lives. I guess the big question is this: Will you trust the ultimate designer? Will you let him show you a design that can not only change your life, but of all those you ever include in your life.

We are going to walk through our lives and this fixer upper room by room. Next week we will start at a very unusual place.