The Builder
Hebrews 3:4
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
I've been thinking about that verse a lot lately. In fact, I wrote it on a piece of paper and propped it up against my computer screen, so it's impossible not to see it while I'm working in the home office. It's staring back at me right now.
There it is again--the familiar presence that I wrote about in the book, and a presence I know only to be God. It just rose up out of that verse and gave it meaning. The first half of the verse is stagnant. It doesn't move and it doesn't move me. The second half of the verse though; that is fluid and vibrant, and it stirs something inside me. I love how, even in the smallest things, God is present.
It seems like I analyze daily whether or not the things I am building are truly for God. Because if I'm sweating and toiling over the building process, and God's glory--and purpose fulfilled--are not natural results, my toiling is in vain. But then, this verse says God is the builder of everything. To me, this means God is in charge of the big picture. No matter how badly I may screw up the details or get my signals crossed about what exactly it is that God wants me to do, God can still use the whole process for good, and God can make it into something that I cannot. I am the laborer, and God is the overseer who provides direction and fixes the things that need fixin' along the way.
There is an incredible amout of peace associated with this amount of divine involvement in my life. I just don't know how people who don't have faith make it through life. God is my comforter, my friend, my boss who adds structure to my work, my confidante, and another parent who loves me recklessly no matter what. God is present in every trial, every blessing, and in all the ho-hum times in between. It's so true...apart from God I am nothing. (John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.) Just remain.
Hebrews 3:4 is also a great reminder that I need to constantly open myself up to being used by "The Builder." If I'm not willing to be a vessel, then God isn't going to accomplish as much as God wants to accomplish through me. It's my job to open myself up and become vulnerable, so that God can make me strong, and add significance to the messages that rise up out of the weakness. And just when I think I've become as vulnerable as I can possibly become, God says, "Let's go one step further." And out on the limb I go. And yet I don't fall. God continues to amaze me in that way.
Time to go sharpen my tools.
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
I've been thinking about that verse a lot lately. In fact, I wrote it on a piece of paper and propped it up against my computer screen, so it's impossible not to see it while I'm working in the home office. It's staring back at me right now.
There it is again--the familiar presence that I wrote about in the book, and a presence I know only to be God. It just rose up out of that verse and gave it meaning. The first half of the verse is stagnant. It doesn't move and it doesn't move me. The second half of the verse though; that is fluid and vibrant, and it stirs something inside me. I love how, even in the smallest things, God is present.
It seems like I analyze daily whether or not the things I am building are truly for God. Because if I'm sweating and toiling over the building process, and God's glory--and purpose fulfilled--are not natural results, my toiling is in vain. But then, this verse says God is the builder of everything. To me, this means God is in charge of the big picture. No matter how badly I may screw up the details or get my signals crossed about what exactly it is that God wants me to do, God can still use the whole process for good, and God can make it into something that I cannot. I am the laborer, and God is the overseer who provides direction and fixes the things that need fixin' along the way.
There is an incredible amout of peace associated with this amount of divine involvement in my life. I just don't know how people who don't have faith make it through life. God is my comforter, my friend, my boss who adds structure to my work, my confidante, and another parent who loves me recklessly no matter what. God is present in every trial, every blessing, and in all the ho-hum times in between. It's so true...apart from God I am nothing. (John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.) Just remain.
Hebrews 3:4 is also a great reminder that I need to constantly open myself up to being used by "The Builder." If I'm not willing to be a vessel, then God isn't going to accomplish as much as God wants to accomplish through me. It's my job to open myself up and become vulnerable, so that God can make me strong, and add significance to the messages that rise up out of the weakness. And just when I think I've become as vulnerable as I can possibly become, God says, "Let's go one step further." And out on the limb I go. And yet I don't fall. God continues to amaze me in that way.
Time to go sharpen my tools.
posted by Jen Austin at 9:48 AM
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