Building Wisely, Part 4

Good morning, it’s a beautiful day here in the Dominican Republic! Pastor Josh and Amber are here visiting with us, and we are thrilled to have them!

We’ve been talking about building wisely in the last couple of blogs, and I want to continue talking about our foundation a bit more as it is so key to everything else that follows. We need to consider the foundation upon which we are building. Is Christ the foundation or something else? Christ is the Word of God, and the Word is the true foundation of success in God’s Kingdom. It is possible to have the right foundation and to still build incorrectly. Did you know that? Material in construction is very important!

As I was preparing and meditating on this, I thought back to my early days of missions work over in Haiti. My first assignment was to construct a building as that was my field of expertise. I had gone on a short-term missions trip through our church in Florida. We returned in February 1984 as we had decided to make a three-month commitment. Our project was to build the Haiti Discipling Center in Montrouis, Haiti. Praise be to God, it is still standing today, thirty years later! Whew, we had our doubts. Of course, those three months turned into five years. You have to watch those commitments!

Let’s get back to material. You know, you can have a secure foundation but still use the wrong material. You can build crooked walls even when you have a straight foundation. The type of block that you use in construction, especially in areas such as this, is very important! Over in Haiti there were two types of block: the handmade ones and then the ones they made in the factory over in Port-Au-Prince. The factory-made block always cost more, were harder to transport, and weighed more. Do you know why they weighed more? Because they had more cement in them!

In regard to the handmade block, some of them we made ourselves, and some we’d buy from Haitians on the side of the road. They would have them all stacked up. We’d go buy those blocks, and let me tell you, we may have thought they were cheaper, but in the end, they cost us more. Many times we would pick them up, and they’d crumble in our hands before we could even lay them! Something else we discovered was that many times the handmade block were not square, true, and plumb, and it was hard to build a straight wall with a crooked block! We’d pick them up and call them “banana blocks.” They would have curves in them.

We thought they were saving us money! Each one required such a level of effort to lay. I couldn’t help but think back to a saying, “It’s easier to do something right the first time than to go back and fix it.” Why? Because when you go back and fix it, it requires cleaning up a mess!

That is equally true in our Christian lives! If we would get things right the first time, we’d have fewer messes to clean up. I’m just saying. Sometimes I used to think that I was in the “ministry of messes.” I was always cleaning them up. You start cleaning up enough messes, and after awhile, you start to focus on doing it right in the first place. Teach your children well; we ought to teach them to do it right the first time. That’s a hard lesson to learn, and it’s equally difficult in our Christian walk. Why? Because we live in an age of “I want it quick” and self-gratification. We want the reward, and we want it now! Many times we’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to do it.

When correct methods and materials are used, the potential for success grows exponentially. Paul reminds us that our work will be revealed and tried by fire. The wood, hay, and straw—we all have a portion of it—will perish. The gold, silver, precious stones—we all have a portion of that as well—will be of great value. All of us are going to experience reward and/or the loss of reward.

So we must keep in mind how we are building, and I want you think about this: man is capable of tremendous achievements. Just think back in history. Man is capable of building great towers to the sky. Man is capable of exercising tremendous control. He is capable of governing. He is capable of exercising great power in a diversity of ways. Motivation becomes the key factor: why we do what we do.

Let’s make a commitment to examine our hearts and lives and ask God to show us areas that might need a little cleaning up. I’m pretty sure there are places in which each of us could use the Holy Spirit’s winnowing fan to blow away the dust and reveal the block and mortar in our lives that could use a little fixing. 

Vickie and I pray that you have a blessed week!

Grace and peace,

pg