This Old House

This Old House

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

2 Corinthians 4:16

There’s a wonderful gospel song called “This Ole House.” It’s been a favorite of Southern gospel music fans for decades, especially those who love bass leads.

On the surface, the lyrics of “This Ole House” describe a rickety old house that is decaying and beginning to fall down. The roof is leaking, the shutters are falling off, the windows are broken, and it shows other deteriorating features. The composer’s conclusion is “I ain’t a-gonna need this house no longer.”

The underlying message of the song is that, like the Scripture passage above, our bodies (houses) are slowly decaying or dying, but we are getting ready to meet the saints of heaven so we are not going to need these old “houses” anyway.

When former president John Quincy Adams grew very old, he was slowly and feebly walking down a street in Boston one day when an old friend met him. Greeting him and shaking Adams’s trembling hand, he asked, “And how is John Quincy Adams today?”

“Thank you,” said the ex-president. “John Quincy Adams is well, quite well. I thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming quite dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundations. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But he himself is quite well, quite well.”

In contrast to these old houses in which we live, God has promised to give us glorious mansions in heaven when we arrive there. So giving up this old house of mine will be like trading a worthless piece of real estate for a palace. Who doesn’t want to do that?

Dear God, I look forward to moving into my mansion in heaven someday and being with you for all eternity. Amen.