There are many passages in the bible that talk about your heart and attitude towards God as being the most important thing, and that it affects every other aspect of your life.  Two passage have been jumping out at me like this the last few days:

"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" Matthew 6:33

"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain" Psalm 127:1

It is so important to have pure motives, to be seeking to be righteous in everything that we do and that should be our priority - as Matthew says we should seek it first.  Because if we don't then everything we do is in vain, it will fall apart, and we won't receive the amazing blessings that God has in store for us.

This got me thinking as to why this house move is so important to me, and as to why I am so stressed about it with a constant headache!  Here are my top 5 reasons for wanting to move:

  1. Location - with Rob now working over in Doncaster and us attending church over there, the 45-50 minute drive is getting too much.  It would be so much better to be able to use that time for something more productive (more family time, time with friends, sleeping!) and to save money on petrol that we could use for other ministries (have more people round for meals etc).
  2. Involvement in church - given the driving element and small child element, we have been unable to get involved in anything extra at church - even attending Life Group once a fortnight is a stretch, so it would be amazing to be closer and to be able to properly become a part of our new church.
  3. House for hospitality - as mentioned in my first post about feeding 5000, one of our main goals and passions is to use our house for hospitality.  We can do that where we are, but it is hard ask people to drive all the way over, there is not much space, and we definitely can't have as many people to stay as we would like.  The new house should change that and give us plenty of space for visitors and to expand this ministry.
  4. Garden for Sam - this one is a bit selfish, but I really want to be able to give our little boy a safe place to play outside and to do boy things (like eating mud and poking worms....).  We have a yard at the moment and it really isn't big enough or safe enough to let him play on his own.
  5. Place to relax and grow as a family - I would be fooling myself if I didn't say that I really want a nice new house.  But I think the main reason I want a new house is that the house we bought was a stepping stone - our first rung on the ladder - which has suited us amazingly as a young married couple whilst Rob was studying, but now that we are a young family its limitations are starting to come out.  The kitchen is too small, the bathroom is downstairs, there is no place for visitors to stay.  Hopefully the new house will give us everything we need to grow as a family and the enjoy time together.

I am hoping that these motivations are pure and that I am seeking first God's Kingdom, rather than seeking first things for myself.