Stones

"...a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them..."

Ecclesiastes 3:5a (New International Version - UK)

Building Up People

Forgive me, if I have a bit of a rant today.

Are you one of those people who simply love to criticise people? Pointing out faults in someone's genuine attempts to do things. Yes, they don't get things right 100%, but at least they are trying to do something...

But you just love to pick holes in what they do.

You're not helping. You do know that, don't you?

And if you're not helping, you are potentially being more destructive than you are constructive.

Of course, knocking people down is easier. To build up a brick wall can take a skilled bricklayer a whole morning's work; perhaps a whole day. To knock the same wall down? Why, a swift kick in the right place could bring the whole thing down in seconds.

Let's face it, it is your choice whether you want to be constructive or destructive. Your choice, whether you want to build up, or to pull down.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Do It Anyway...

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centred;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Written by Kent M. Keith as "Paradoxical Commandments" and promoted by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Carpenter Needs Joiners

Matthew 13:55 (NIV)

"Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?"

At the weekend we studied various passages of scripture at the Corps about 'stones', and the subsequent discussion over a cup of coffee with the visiting officer has, once again, set me off on another interesting tangent. This one's all about the meaning of the word 'carpenter' in the above text. So what did Joseph do for a living?

Joseph is described as a carpenter by trade, and Jesus would have probably followed the same trade, learning by apprenticeship. But is that right? The Greek word being translated here as "carpenter" is τεκτων (tekton), which is a word that is from the same root as "technical" and "technology". This means Joseph was an artisan, a craftsman who was probably working with various materials, ranging from wood to stone. And since wood wasn't as commonly available in the local area as stone, most structural building was done in stone. Therefore, both Joseph and Jesus were probably the village craftsmen, working in wood, stone and possibly metal.

It's interesting, then, to consider Mark 12:1-12 in the light of this... the parable ends us with a good reference for a local building expert to use:

Mark 12:10-12 (NIV)
Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: "‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Wise And Foolish Builders - part two

The bible passage contained in my previous blog entry is one that keeps cropping up in my daily reading, so perhaps it's a good one to focus on this week. This follows on from a recent Bible Study at our Corps, when Graeme asked the group to meditate on whether our lives were truly built on Christ's solid Rock.

I've been pondering this for a while, as long-time followers of this blog will recall. A recurring prayer of mine has been 'Lord, lift me from the miry clay and place my feet firmly on the Rock'.

There was a particular quotation from Alexander Solzhenitsyn in that bible study, taken from a time when he was stripped of all dignity and hope, imprisoned in a Russian labour camp. He writes about the day "when I deliberately let myself sink to the bottom and found it firm beneath my feet - the hard rocky bottom which is the same for all."

In all my pleas for God to lift me from the mire, to plant my feet on the Rock, it dawned on me. The Rock wasn't something I was missing; it was already there. Underneath the mire, holding me up all this time. It's already the firm foundation of my life.

Wise And Foolish Builders

Luke 6:46-49 (New International Version, ©2011)

"Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

More on this later...

Misunderstood? part two

So I've been through all the usual questions, the challenges. I've worked out where I think I ought to be, and tried to work out how to get there. Back came the answer 'God will make a way'. But I've still been trying to work out for myself which way I need to go. I've come along with the best of intentions, and often found myself taken for a ride by my peers, who are happy to use my willingness to serve. I've asked the question “why is this happening to me?"as I struggle through problems others seem to breeze through. I try my best, but my best doesn't seem to be good enough.

And of course it isn't. Nothing I do will ever be good enough. When trials come, God is at work within me, shaping me into the person I need to be. Not necessarily for now, but for future service. I've just misunderstood what is being done. In fact, I've misunderstood the whole object. It's not what I can do for God. It's what He can do for me. I'm a work in progress! God's hard at work with his tools, checking my progress with his plumb line.

You see, I've often said to others that they need to be a 'human being', not a human doing. However, applying that concept to my life has been ... er ... difficult. There's always something to do! So, taking this truth and applying them to the two points I blogged about last time:

I am a Salvationist, chosen to be a soldier.
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.”
John 15:16

That God is calling me to something deeper.
That calling isn't necessarily what else can I do for Him - but who I can be for Him. God's the one with work to do - and it's already under way.

Building Up And Pulling Down

Amos 7:1-17 (NIV)
1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up.

2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"

3 So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said.

4 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.

5 Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"

6 So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand.

8 And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."

(with thanks to WordLife for initially bringing this passage to my attention)

Apparently, the use of a plumb line to ensure that your building is straight dates back as far as the Egyptians when they built the pyramids. If the bricks that you are laying in the first few levels of your building are even a little bit out, then the whole structure will be unstable and will probably have to be torn down. So, what is your 'plumb line'? How do you measure up? And if you don't measure up, are you prepared to be deconstructed, even by a little?

Break me - melt me - mould me - fill me.