Is Your House In Order?

Isaiah 38:1

Hezekiah was sick. The Bible says he was at the point of death. Isaiah went to him and warned: “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

What should that mean to us today?  “Put your house in order!” This is not about re-arranging furniture or cleaning house. This is not about getting your last will and testament ready, signing a living will or anything like that. The house, here, is life! The order is not about worldly affairs, but spiritual. The urgency is to have your life right with God! That includes:

Full repentance of all sin. Think of this as holding nothing back – giving up every sin you know you are guilty of and taking nothing against God to your death. The goodness of God leads us to full repentance (Rom. 2:4). Christ gave His life in order for repentance to be meaningful and available to us.

Full submission to God. We cannot get our house, our life, in order – without full submission to God. God means everything; God is first; God is perfectly trustworthy, and I obey Him with a whole heart to glorify Him now and to prepare myself for death. Jesus describes this as loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matt. 22:37).

Full trust and obedience in Christ.  Are you aware of God’s love, as expressed in the death of Christ (Rom. 5:6-8)? What impact has that awareness had? Let that conviction result in obedience to Christ. He is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:9).

I must get my house – my life – in order through full repentance of sin; full submission to God and full trust and obedience in Christ.

Now keep in mind – Hezekiah had notice. There is nothing in the Bible anywhere that could be understood as a guarantee that we will have notice before our death! So there is no recommendation out of Isa. 38 – to wait till you have notice.

The recommendation is to get your life right before you die by full repentance; full submission to God, and full trust and obedience in Christ.