Except The Lord Builds The House...

I loved watching my dad design homes and draw up house plans when I was teenager. That wasn't his actual job, but it was a way he earned extra income to help support our family of six. I loved watching his large sheet of paper, secured to the drawing board with masking tape, transform from blank white into a two dimensional rendering of his ideas. All he needed was a T-square, an architect's triangle, a three sided ruler that allowed him to draw to different scales, a slide rule to make quick calculations, a special mechanical pencil, and an art-gum eraser.

Dad toiled away during evenings and weekends deciding where to put a furnace and hot water heater, and how to arrange the kitchen and bathroom so the plumbing would be the easiest to install. Then there were decisions about the size and placement of bedroom closets, where the bathroom should be located, and on which end of the room a door should be placed. Window size and placement was another decision to be made--a serious decision since the home's exterior appearance was influenced by the window placement--and looks are important. Dad always wanted the home to be beautiful.

Finally, after long hours of work, he would holler out, "Hey, Wife! (He always call my mom, "Wife".) Come look at this."  Within minutes, my mom would appear at his side to check out his work.  She would scrutinize and think, then think and re-scrutinize as she moved her pointer-finger from room to room. It was as if she were living in that architectural drawing. Finally, taking a deep breath, some important questions were asked. Questions like, "Where do the vacuum, mop, and broom go?"  And this one, "Where are the bedding and towels going to be stored?" I don't know if Dad always forgot important areas, or if it was a game they played. Either way, Wife added practicality to Dad's creativity. They made a great team.

So what?

That is what I asked myself at church today when memories of those years poked their heads up. What does any of that have to do with today's sermon on being righteous--not doing "righteous"? What does any of it have to do with being reformed and transformed instead of hanging on for dear life and trying to play the part of a good Christian?

As usual, God had a message for me in those childhood memories.

Even before I was conceived, I was on God's drawing board. He knew who I would be, and what he wanted me to do. He knew when I needed to be born, where I needed to live and go to school, and even worship. He created me to be a beautiful place, a functioning place, a perfect place His spirit could reside in and work from. And I have no clue what the finished me will look like. I haven't seen the plot plan, the floor plan, the roof construction, or the detail drawings.

Here is the problem (mine, not God's). I want to be like my mom, and approve God's plan before any work is done. I want to check it all out and make suggestions. I even want to go a step or two further and tell him what I like, don't like, want and don't want. If there are changes that seem necessary, I want them done, and done now. I want to be in charge. After all, it is my life isn't it?

Abba Father gives me the option to do just that. He will let me install doors that lead to places I shouldn't go. He will let me build walls where no wall should be built. He will even let me wall up the doors he wants me to go through. Since I usually foul up Do-It-Yourself projects, I can even consult the architectural firm of E. Ville Satan & Sons--they will listen to me and my desires. The firm will support and encourage me to build my lovely home in the sand dunes, if I desire, instead of on the rock where Abba wants it. They will recommend building locked storage rooms in which to hid my angers, jealousies, resentments, fears, selfishness--the list of things for locked storage goes on and on--instead of handing my sins, iniquities, and transgressions to God's son to dispose of. (Hiding appears to ease the shame and guilt, but doesn't.)

Houses on sand, and locks on doors aren't in God's building plans for my life, but somehow they find their way into the plans I make for myself. Sadly, when my plans are put into action, my house starts to collapse after a few rain and wind storms. And it starts to stink as my sins rot behind locked doors.

If all that weren't bad enough, there are times I think I know exactly what kind of house I am, what every room is for, and I am wrong. I remember well the "Prison Ministry" room I had. I loved that place, and sometimes spent more that one evening a week in it. God had built a beautiful place for me and I was going to "live" there forever. I didn't need the rest of the house. Then came the storm that destroyed that wonderful room. At least I thought it was destroyed. I was furious with God for ruining my life. What was I going to do now?

Oh, alas! Woe is me! I am ruined.

"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:2. That is so true. In this case the vanity was my idea of who and what I was. I will never know how I thought that wonderful place I named Prison Ministry defined me. If I had seen the blueprints I would have known that place was and is merely a tool-room that equips me for the next building stage of my life.

I don't know what God is building. I don't know how many more rooms are either planned or in progress, or what they are even for.  He just lets me know when I need to know. Shows me when I need to see. I am often surprised. In the meantime I try to use everything He has given me to the best of His ability, for the blessing of others, and most of all, to His Glory. My life is His, after all, not mine.

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Now, back to Sunday's sermon--Be Righteous, not Do Righteous. Building the life I want, the way I want it, when I want it, ignoring all the garbage rotting inside me, and pretending to be what I'm not is doing righteous. It is only by letting God build what he planned eons ago, seeking his help on house-cleaning and upkeep, and firing E. Ville Satan & Sons as architects, consultants, or sub-contractors that I can be righteous as my Father in heaven is righteous.  (Read all of Matthew 5 for the complete picture of God's righteousness we are to be like)

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Here is what I know today:

• God doesn't want me to build what I think I want, or tear down what He has built--no matter how badly I want or don't want it. HE is the builder.  "Except the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain."   Psalm 127:1 NKJ

• I don't want to labor in vain.

• I need to get rid of any faux architects or sub-contractors I have on retainer. Their work might sound good and look good, but it is garbage.  "If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks." Psalm 127:1 The Message

• I don't want to live in a shack either. 

• His plan is perfect. His timing is perfect. My plans or timing will never turn out the way I desire. They are vanity, vanity.

• I want to smell like the incense of praise, not the stench of sin

Lord, may I want what you want me to want, be who you want me to be, living as you want me to love--righteous like you. ( A Spirit caused typo? I thought I typed "live", but love is so much better.)

In Love, Jan