Day 29
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled[a] master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it 1 Corinthians 3:10
This post has been quite difficult to write, my thoughts are everywhere and I am stretched thin but I must follow through and write. I want to explain to you about the importance of building, building with good materials and building to last.
I keep thinking of Noah and the ark. An ark, something that had never been seen before to protect the people from a flood, another thing that had probably never been seen before either. But Noah obeyed anyway and persevered through what must have been a lot of ridicule and moments of confusion. He followed through and held on to what God said to the point that the Bible says that his faith condemned the world Heb 11:7.
There is grace available for you. I don't want you to look at Noah’s life and think he did everything perfectly because we know from later on in his life that he is far from being a perfect man but God saw grace in Him. God sees grace in you too because He sees His son when He looks at you. I want you to try to see yourself in his story as he struggles day in and day out to build the vision God has given him. Perhaps God has put a picture in your heart or given you an instruction and you are afraid, you don't want to do it by yourself or you don't know how to do it. The good news is that you are not on your own and you don't need to be perfect to begin building. Remember that God always sends a lot of help for the ark He has asked you to build. He sends help through His Word and through people (to guide you, to share with you their stories, to inspire you, to show you what to do or not to do).
Build to specifications. Gen 6:22 says “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” God will give you instructions and many of which you may not understand but build it as He has commanded anyway. He knows the storms coming and He will tell you how to build to withstand everything without cracks. Don't compromise, build well. 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 tells us that we are God’s building so we need to be mindful of how we build because the quality of our work will be tested by fire. If it survives we will be rewarded and if it is burned up, we will suffer loss. One of my favorite scriptures, Matthew 7:24-27, also emphasizes the importance of building on a solid foundation which is hearing the word of God and doing what He says.
The Master Builder. The builder of all things is God (Heb 3:4) so we need Him to guide and teach us to build like Him. He has the expertise and we need to follow Him step by step. He has the grand picture, the blueprint of all things. He has guided others before us and will guide others after us, none of us are the start and end of the story, we just have the privilege to add to it. Keep choosing to build with God because He makes the story worth telling.