Proverbs 24:3-4,7 Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches. (7) Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.
As with any project, the groundwork must start (verse 7) before the building can go up. The field needs to be prepared for the building. This is likened unto preparing a person's heart for the relationships that will be built upon it. This preparation needs to happen before the building starts, but because the building is made of Spiritual stones, contstant "grounds maintenance" will have to go on as well. This preparation and maintenance lies specifically in developing a relationship with Jesus that is independent of and supersedes other relationships. It is a relationship that is built on the Word of God as the primary source for discovering the heart and character of God, of prayer for discovering and aligning our desires with the perfect will of God, of dealing with sin (confession, repentance, and taking thoughts captive) on a moment by moment basis, of being a bondservant of Christ (dying to self and walking in obedience) - in short, of being Abandoned to God, loving Him with our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Once groundwork has been accomplished, the foundations of the house can be laid. That foundation surely is the connection between field of the relationship we have with Jesus and the house that's being built. This foundation is the gift and calling of Christ on the heart that has been prepared for use. No real and lasting work can be accomplished without being founded on the call of Christ. This call provides the strength to build upon, for nothing built on less that the Solid Rock of Christ can stand, it will be like that house built upon shifting sand.
Then the building will commence, on those firm foundations and prepared ground. It's interesting to note now that the building doesn't arise and get filled with it's precious contents by work of those who will live in or be that house. Instead, the work is accomplished by the Master Builder. It will be accomplished by the steadfast and untiring hand of the Master as he uses the wisdom and understanding that are His. Notice however that the Master will use the your hands and feet to walk the mile, or place the stones. Through the plans that the Spirit provides, the house will be built. We must reject any stone that does not bear the mark of the quarrier, the marks of wisdom and understanding found prototyped in the Word of God, that perfect plan and description of what the Master Builder desires to create. God will accomplish what He desires, whether that building be your life, your family, ministry, projects, the Kingdom, or the world.
The work is the Lord's and He will accomplish it through us if we allow Him to prepare the ground, lay the foundation of Christ, and build the house according to His plans and in His time!
4 comments:
Holy Moley (what the heck is a "Moley" anyways and can one be holy?! ;) is all of this stuff off the top of your head each day?! If so, no wonder you started pastoring. So is the intent of your blog to be a teaching/meditation type of deal, or something you keep sermons and such on? Just curious. Most of the people I know that keep them tend to put just random thoughts, ideas and reflections. Be sure and check the links to other blogs on my page. Eric Keck is the guy that used to live here in Eagle and started the 'missional poker' game I still attend on Thursday nights. Jon Reid was the worship leader at the San Jose City Vineyard until they shut down this Sunday. Crispin Schroeder is the worship pastor at the Kenner Vineyard near New Orleans that we stayed at for our relief trips last year and has some great stuff on worship and beer ;). Oh, and it looks like I am the first to post a comment to your blog, yippee!
How weird, you have to approve my comments? How anti-blog! I just delete anything not appropriate (I think it's happened like twice in the two years since I've been blogging and never since they instituted word verification.
Isn't Moley something that bread gets? Anyway, the stuff I've posted so far are stirrings of the Spirit, the Lord gets all the (good) credit. I will likely post other family related items as well, although I was thinking about keep the two blogs separate. More content for one blog is more interesting probably. Thanks for being my first commentor!
By the way, I have linked to your blog on mine calling it Jason "On the Hill" based on your title and URL ;)
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