Home Depot is Demonic

“Praise God, Dave. Now……temptation!”

After I dried off from my baptism in 2014, I heard this statement more than a few times:

“Praise God, Dave! Now…. get ready for serious temptation…”

And. They. Were. Spot. On.  

Those early years were disorienting. I needed a comprehensive way of thinking about the Christian life. Both its ontology (what is the Christian life?) and its developmental biology (how to grow).

Thankfully, our Father led me to meditate on 2 Peter 1:1-15 and I found the answer that I was looking for. 

In  2 Pet. 1:1-15, Peter lays out that a Christian has, “all things that pertain to life and godliness” and that we enjoy those riches if we take hold of Jesus’ “precious and very great promises” (v. 3-4). 

How do we take hold of these promises? We, as an act of trust, build 7 virtues on top of the promises. Think of it like building a 7 level house on top of a foundation and pre-made basement. 

Now, that brings me to Home Depot being demonic…

An Allegory

See, the Christian life is like waking up to a new home where the foundation and the basement are already finished. 

That’s faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God,” (Eph. 2:8).

God then tells you “to make every effort to supplement (add) your faith (house) with…” 7 virtues (v. 5). 

Before I list them, notice 2 critical things:

1. You are to add to your faith. In other words, your effort here does not come first, nor does it replace the gift of trust that God has given us. 

2. God is commanding us “to make every effort”. This will be hard. It will take all of you. So comfortable Christianity is not an option. And as we can’t make every effort in everything, our life will have limits and clear priorities. 

Here are the 7 levels to be built sequentially:

What makes Home Depot demonic here, is that the materials to build each level of the home mystically arrive in the basement everyday. 

In other words, our building materials come from trust in Jesus’ promises. It is a work of God (Phil. 2:13-14). 

Home Depot is demonic because sometimes we wake up and don’t want to go down to the basement (trust). It’s cold down there. 

Or sometimes, we go down, and get the “bright” idea that we need more than what God is providing and think we can just take a quick trip to Home Depot to get a material we think we need to do God’s work. 

No, my friends. Instead, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..” (Heb. 12:2). 

Truly, He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).

Practice Groups

Determined to lay this foundation for every member of our church. Led By Christ Church started with what we call Practice Groups: A small, single-gender, spiritual maturity pathway.

Unit 1 ran for 6 months and we memorized and meditated on 2 Pet. 1:1-15, grew in faith, virtue and love for one another.

It was a blessed time. 

Why do we call it “Practice Groups”? Because of verses like 2 Pet. 1:10:

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities (The 7) you will never fall.

Christianity is a practice and it’s a lot easier if we practice together.