The Easter reveal

I love the reveal. In my house, we watch a lot of HGTV. Good Bones, Fixer Upper, Windy City Rehab, Property Brothers, Home Town...you name it, we watch it.

Renovation, rebuild, structural correction, add-on, or total make-over; doesn’t matter. Normally I am working on the computer, glancing occasionally until the reveal: the last 10 minutes when they walk you through the house and show the before and after. All the work is done; beautiful, fun decor is added; and it is time to celebrate. The reveal is when I fully engage.

Lent has me thinking about my draw to the reveal.

The cross, death and burial come before the resurrection. I have found myself guilty of jumping to the resurrection and missing the cost Christ paid so I can celebrate the resurrection’s reveal of grace and forgiveness.

So what does HGTV have to do with Lent? As I journey through Lent this season, I have drawn some personal parallels.

Before the reveal, there was a perfect blueprint – Psalm 139

The psalmist tells us that God knit us together in our mother’s womb. His design is perfect because He is perfect. God is detailed and creative. He knows the number of hairs on my head. (Luke 12:7) Joanna Gaines has the ability to design a house but God’s blueprint was formed from the beginning.

Faulty renovation came before celebrating the reveal – Romans 3:23

I took God’s design and added my own. What a mess my design brought into my life, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I spent time trying to be my own fixer. Many days I still do. I patch, paint over and duct tape the defects in my life. Try as I may, I cannot fix the mess my sin has created. Only the master designer can renovate my life.

Demolition leads to the reveal – Romans 5

My selfish design has left my house dangerously unlivable: empty, structurally unsound and dark. But God. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (verse 6). Christ’s death brought the demolition and restoration that I could not provide. The work on the cross is hard to fathom. I can’t just pass through the season of Lent without reflecting on the great work of sacrifice to usher in the great reveal. Hebrews 12:2 tells us to keep “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

And then the reveal! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Beyond the cross and death comes the reveal – the resurrection! Not just a new earthly dwelling, but life eternal! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Salvation allows me to celebrate the transformation and new life in Christ. The HGTV reveal has reminded me not to forget, to reflect with thankfulness and humility as I walk through the front door of the Easter reveal.

I love the reveal but I love Christ, the one revealed, even more!

Allyson Clark serves as Next Generation Co-Director of Youth Ministries at the Baptist Convention of New England.