One more house has gone up for sale after a fast remodel and staging. It seems as quickly as they go on the market they are almost immediately pending sale or sold. Quick sales and skyrocketing home values give rise to more than a few concerns about a future housing bubble burst. One can almost hear Tennessee Ernie Ford singing, “… You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt…”
It is hard to remember a time when our country has simultaneously faced: long-term drought, coastal and inland flooding, wildfires, dangerous air quality, and tornado risks. Ernest Hemmingway echoed the experience of many when he said, “I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?” It’s peace-inducing to follow Abraham’s gaze forward in Hebrews 11:10, “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” That is the city in which we must choose to engage our building in; especially when so much in this world reveals stress fractures, poor building materials, and falling apart.
Is Jesus really the foundation of what you are building, or is it a different dream, maybe someone else’s designs for your life? 1 Corinthians 3:11 gives us the Architect’s blueprint when it says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” With Christ as the foundation of our lives and His church we should be building something that only the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus makes possible. The framed walls within our lives should be an ‘open-concept’ where people can experience God’s love, forgiveness, and life of grace. The roofline should be layered with God’s promises to keep out the storms of life and have a curb appeal that invited others to shelter in God. Then:
“The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house;
yet it did not fall,
because it had its foundation on the rock.”
(Matthew 7:25)