Hosue of Payne

For everyone who has seen House of Payne, have you ever noticed that the last name of all the main characters is Payne: Clarence Payne, Curtis Payne, Ella Payne, Malik and Jazmine Payne. They each have different first names, but the same last name. I believe that is symbolic of the fact that each of them struggles with a unique type of Payne (pain). I also believe we all can identify with at least one character and their personal pain.

Clarence Payne deals with the pain of losing his wife to an addiction and the pain of being a single parent. Curtis Payne deals with the pain that comes from the stress of knowing he is the main bread winner for everyone who lives in his house. Ella Payne deals with the pain that all good mothers experience which is everyone's pain because she hurts whenever someone else hurts. Malik deals with the pain of not knowing if his absent parent will ever get their life together. And little Jasmine deals with the pain of not getting the attention she craves from her father. It has been said that home is where the heart is. Well, I believe since that's true, that means home is also where the most hurt is.

In Matthew 9 we read about a rich ruler named Jarius who also understood what it means to live in the house of pain because his daughter died. However, because two things happened, Jarius' house transformed from the house of pain to the house of gain.

First, Jarius invited Jesus to his house. Jarius, a rich ruler, went out the way to extend a personal invitation to Jesus because he knew that Jesus was the only person who was able to transform his house. We all should be like Jarius and extend a personal invitation for Jesus to come and dwell in our house. I beleive their is much pain in our home or in many of our rooms because we bar Jesus from entering. But when you grant Jesus an all access pass he will go through you house and touch everything that hurts. As the old song says, "Just one touch from the master's hand will make everything alright.

The second thing that needs to happen is that we all need to put some people out of our house. When Jesus arrived at the house, because of Jewish custom, the house will filled with professional mourners. Jesus attempted to bring hope to the hurting parents, but the mourners stood in the way. As a result, Jesus put everyone out the house except the parents. Jesus then grabbed the parents by the hand and took them into the girls rooms. It's possible some of our homes are in pain because we have too much interference from people who do not live there--people who do not have anything to gain if a transformation occurs. Therefore, we need to restrict the precence of outsiders--single friends, in-laws,BFF, etc.--so that the core family unit can focus on the healing process.

If you follow these two steps, I believe you and your family can begin (notice I say begin becasue I do believe other steps should be taken such as counseling) the transformation from house of pain to house of gain.