Build Something Beautiful

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock” Matthew 7:24 (NLT).My brothers and I put in some serious Lego playing time. We each had our own color, this way there was no confusion over whose Legos where whose. This required some serious negotiations when you ran out of pieces you needed. It’s the pits when a brother is in a strong negotiating position. It was even worse when negotiations broke down and war was declared, this meant all pieces previously acquired had to be returned, along with threats and curses, which meant having to disassemble whatever had been build, leaving us all sitting on the floor with piles of Lego rubble. My memories are filled with building awesome things together and Legos flying, returning them on the heels of failed negotiations was never accompanied by civility and kindness.When it comes to life I wish I had all the right pieces in all the right colors to build something beautiful that is not exposed to the claims, needs, or treachery of others. But even though life doesn’t hand us all the right pieces, we do build, each one of us, we are all building something. It was really irritating when one of my brothers build something and then let it just sit there for days, tying up pieces I needed. That’s how clandestine raiding started, or the challenge of taking pieces of something without disturbing the outside look of it so it would not be obvious. Life can be nasty.Legos don’t smell, but a lot of what life hands you stinks. Lego’s are designed to neatly interlock, life just hands you pieces, many of them broken, sharp, even awful. How are you supposed to build anything worthwhile with that? Legos don’t move on their own, the pieces of my life are constantly moving in ways I have no control over. Legos are expensive, so is life, in more than one way, it is astounding how much some things cost us.The Bible, God’s written word, doesn’t say a word about Legos, but it says all kinds of things about life and about building. It makes a difference what you build your life on, what you build with, how you acquire your materials, what you do with the broken and the stink, whose plans you follow, how you deal with the moving parts, and how you deal with the things that can bring it all down.The Corinthian church was a mess because they were acting like a bunch of Frei boys playing Legos. They had forgotten that they were supposed to build something beautiful, that in Christ and by the grace of God they were enabled to build something that glorifies God and blesses others. So the Apostle Paul gave them an earful, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames” 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NLT).Have you made Christ your foundation? What are you building on it? Can what you build withstand the storms of life and the judgment of God? Does what you do with the pieces of your life glorify God and bless others?To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans