Visitation vs. Habitation: Is Jesus Your Guest?

By David Ryser

The traveling preacher was driving down the road going to his next scheduled church.  He redeemed the time by praying about the upcoming services.  He prayed, “Lord, I don’t want to preach some canned sermons in these meetings.  I’d like to preach something that would speak to this group of people.  I need to hear from you.  Would you please tell me what this church is like?”

God’s answer startled him:  “I don’t know.  I’ve never been there.”

The little boy had to stay home from church one Sunday morning because he was recovering from a minor illness.  When his family returned, his parents and siblings were carrying palm fronds.  He asked what the palms were about.  His parents explained that this was Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday was when Jesus rode into town, and the people cut palm branches from the trees and laid them in His path.  The palm branches they’d brought home were a reminder of the occasion.

The boy had a look of disgust on his face.  He said, “Wouldn’t you know it?  I miss church one time and Jesus shows up!”

When I heard these stories, my first reaction was to laugh.  Then I sighed.  Then I thought for awhile.  Then I cried.

There is some discussion in Christian circles these days about visitation and habitation.  Visitation is when God shows up among His people and churches, and He demonstrates His presence and power in remarkable ways.  Habitation is when God takes up residence among His people and churches, and He abides with them.  The whole discussion strikes me as somewhat moot, because the sad fact is that most of God’s people and churches are experiencing neither.

And it’s not God’s fault.

Tommy Tenney tells a wonderful story that illustrates the difference between visitation and habitation.  A man he knows is the pastor of a church.  This pastor loves the people in the church, and they love him.  The pastor, because of a genetic abnormality, has always been grossly overweight.  As a twelve-year-old child, he weighed 300 pounds (about 140 kg.).  Now he weighs 550 pounds (250 kg.).  His duties as a pastor often require him to go to the homes of church members, perhaps to drop off some Sunday School material or some such thing.

The people are always delighted to see him.

After completing his business at the door of the home, the pastor often will spend time just standing at the door and enjoying the company of the people he is visiting.  As he makes as if to leave, the people regularly ask him into the house to stay for a while longer.  When this happens, the pastor will take a quick glance into the home.  He is looking to see if anything has changed since the last time he was there.

He is looking for a place to sit.

All of his life he has been embarrassed by getting stuck in a chair that is too small for him.  Or, worse yet, the chair might break because of his weight.  If he doesn’t see a place where he can sit, the pastor will make some excuse about needing to go on his way.  He wants very much to stay and fellowship with the people he loves, but he can’t.

So he leaves.

Through reading the Bible, and from personal experience, I have discovered that God is very much like this pastor.  He comes everywhere He is wanted.  But He only stays where He is accommodated.

People and churches all over the world are praying for a visitation from God.  What will happen when He comes?  And what if He wants to stay for a while?  There is a difference between a visitation and a habitation.  Jesus will visit us if we want Him.  But He will dwell with us only if we accommodate Him.

We say we want Jesus to inhabit our lives and our churches.  Do we really?  I’m not so sure.

When we have visitors in our home, they are expected to be good guests.  We expect them to respect our home and not disrupt it.  They do not have the right to rearrange the furniture or redecorate the house.

Inhabitants are different.

When Jesus comes to stay in a life or a church, He makes a mess!  (Read the gospels and the Book of Acts.)  He begins to rearrange the furniture.  He begins to redecorate.  He begins to remodel the place.  He even begins to change the rules!  Change, change, change!

How rude!

You see, we want Jesus to come and abide in our lives and our churches.   But we want it on our own terms.  We want things to be neat and tidy.  We want Jesus to abide as a guest.

It doesn’t work that way.

If Jesus comes to stay in our lives and churches, He comes as a King.  He is no longer simply a guest in the house.  He is the Master of the house.  That’s the price we pay for having Him abide with us.

If we want Jesus to live with us, we should be prepared to embrace change.  Jesus lives where He is comfortable.  Our comfort is of relatively little importance.  If Jesus is not accommodated, He won’t stay.  If He stays, things will change.

And not everyone will appreciate it.

“But if Jesus comes, everything will be peaceful and wonderful!”  What Bible have you been reading?  Mine includes the New Testament.  When Jesus came on the scene, He upended the religious system.  And a lot of people got upset.  Upset enough to kill Him.  The same was true for the early Church.  My friend Tim describes the Book of Acts as “Holy Ghost chaos.”

And he’s right.

And throughout Church history, God has visited and dwelt among His people for a time.  Inevitably He leaves when His people go back the way they came…back into dead religion.  The reasons for going back are legion.  Some were tired of the opposition to what God was doing and wanted to be accepted by the religious system.  Some contended so vigorously for what God was doing, that they fell in love with what He was doing and lost Him.  Some fell victim to theology and touted the move of God as evidence of the end times rather than an attempt by God to restore His Church to health.  And others merchandised the move of God.

Whatever the reason, they ceased to accommodate God…and He left.

But God never gives up.  He continues to visit His people when they want Him.  He continues to dwell with them when they accommodate Him.  And sometime before Jesus returns, the people of God will turn to Him with pure hearts, seek Him with all of their strength, and will do whatever it takes to have the One they love remain among them.

Why not you?  Why not now?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com