Structural Engineering 101

Okay. I have a bit of a confession to make. If you haven't noticed, my blogs have been primarily out of the Old Testament. And by that I mean I've only had one blog that has been about a passage from the New Testament. There is a couple of reasons for this... They're not good reasons. Let me first say that I love Jesus as much as the next guy. The New Testament is God inspired scripture and is His Word and is every bit as credible and beautiful as the Old Testament. It is completely wrong of me to feel this way.... But I'm kinda biased towards the OT.... I just have a real passion for it, and because of that, I spend a lot more time reading it than the NT. I know its bad. But I do it. And then.... Paul kinda gets on my nerves. I know that's a terrible thing to say. But it's just the truth. And he wrote most of the NT. So there you go. There's my confession. I apologize, I'm working on it. That being said, I have something from the New Testament!

Just ten minutes ago I had a friend ask me if I got my house all fixed up. I just moved into my house, it needed a lot of work, so they were asking if I had gotten it fixed up yet. And I'm very proud of what I've done with my house so far, so I replied yes. I've done some repairs, filled it with some things, and it feels like home now. It's something I really enjoy and it is very comforting for me to walk in the door and just have this feeling of ah... I did this. This is mine, and it's home. It is a wonderful thing to experience. So after being asked this question, and it bringing up that feeling, I thought about a little something Jesus told me about homes once:

Luke 6:47-49

"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

You could take the analogy in this parable and apply it to several different aspects of life. The Church, your own life, your family, or possibly even the three little pigs. I just wanted to address the analogy kind of as a whole, and leave it open to any application you choose.

First things first, we have a man building a house. So in a sense, we have a kind of creation. Something is just beginning to grow and take shape, whatever in your life that may be at the moment. It could be a relationship, friendship, family, church, ministry, anything really.And as the builder you have a choice to make: On what will I build it? You must choose what material it is that you will base all of it on. As you do your research, you will find that all building materials can be separated into two basic categories: 1) Worldly 2) Godly. I know its not a very wide variety, but I'm just a middle man, don't shoot the messenger. Now. A short description of your options to help you to choose:

1) Worldly.

As the adjective describes, worldly materials consist of anything of this world. Which is everything that isn't of God. Just a few remarks the Bible has to say about the world:

1)"And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

2)"The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

They can be rather expensive, but are very easily assembled. They can be thrown together and be up and running in no time. Of course, they're running nowhere fast, and will one day collapse.So. If the things of this world are the materials you are looking to base this new thing in your life on, I hope you're planning on it being temporary and basically worthless. If so, these are great materials for you. All the hype of this world will one day end. All the products we enjoy, the things that entertain us, all of the possessions, and everything else that is dependent on this world, will one day disappear. (Not implying that all those things are necessarily evil, or condoning any of them either. Simply stating the fact that they will one day be gone and therefore make poor building materials.) So, unless you're planning on building something that will never stand up to any kind of opposing force, you should probably base it on something a little more solid. I'm no engineer, but Jesus said it, and I hear He was a carpenter, and is building mansions and streets of gold at the moment.

2) Godly

This group consists of any materials collected from God Himself. These can be easily obtained either through a book He wrote called The Bible or through your personal relationship with Him. All materials are free, and never fade away or change. WARNING: if you attempt to use godly materials in ways that they were not originally intended, they are no longer godly, and will therefore will not stand. Through the Bible and God revealing it to you, you will be able educated in the ways in which to use these materials. There is usually some assembly required, and it is not at all easy to put the materials together and use them all correctly. You will fail at times, and things will break and need repairing. But as I mentioned earlier, that Carpenter guy does a pretty swell job at patching things up. So, if you are searching for something in your life to be never failing, strong, and worth while, then I strongly suggest these materials. As I said, they are free to all who will accept them, and feel free to spread the word about them to your friends and family.

So for all of you out there doing some building and growing of your own, I'm a strong supported of using godly materials. And as for those worldly materials? I say not by the hair of my chinny chin chin. (If you don't understand that, this will fix you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olo923T2HQ4)