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When I awoke this morning, I asked myself, “What is life about?” I found the answer in my room. The fan said, “Be cool.” The roof said, “Aim high.” The window said, “See the world.” The clock said, “Every minute is precious.” The mirror said, “Reflect before you act.” The calendar said, “Be up to date.” The door said, “Push hard for your goals.” The floor said, “Kneel down and pray.”

I’m not sure when I first read this paragraph, nor who wrote it; but I added it to a quote collection in my computer. I stumbled across it the other day. Reading it once again reminded me of a pamphlet written in 1951 by Robert Boyd Munger titled “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” Reportedly, more than ten million readers have enjoyed Munger’s “spiritually challenging meditation on Christian discipleship.”

Robert Boyd Munger was ordained as a United Presbyterian minister. He served as pastor of several congregations, including the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. Munger penned a parable describing what it would be like to have Jesus enter the home of your heart and what it means to give Christ control of your entire life. He began his booklet with the words:

“One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart. What an entrance He made! It was not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real. Something happened at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire on the hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness, and He filled the emptiness with His own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will.”

Munger then depicts going from “room to room” with Christ, beginning with the library – the study of the mind. Munger describes being uncomfortable, as Christ observed his impure thoughts.  Christ instructs him to “fill the library with Scriptures and meditate on them day and night.”

Then the two entered the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. They sat down at the table and Christ did not eat what was served. Then, Christ gave him a “taste of doing God’s will. There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies.”

Next, they walked into the living room and sat down to talk. Christ promised, “I will be here early every morning. Meet me here, and we will start the day together.” That’s where we learn the value of a quiet time in prayer and Bible-reading each day.

The two toured several other rooms in the house. Munger tells about how he thought Christ had finished remodeling every room, when Christ pointed out a closet to which he had not given Him access. Munger realizes he must surrender the key to that last door. “My Heart, Christ’s Home” shows how God works in our heart.

God promises anyone who welcomes Him, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

— Jan White has compiled a collection of her columns in her book, “Everyday Faith for Daily Life.”