Foundational Decisions

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Margaret

All of us who were raised in Sunday school sang the song about the foolish man and the wise man who each built a house, one on the sand, the other on a rock. As we enthusiastically did the hand motions, pounding our fists to imitate hammers and wiggling our fingers for rain, we couldn’t wait for the foolish man’s house to go, “Smash!” The bigger our claps, the better.

The last verse of the song says, “Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ… and the blessings will come down.” As a child I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but now I know.

The story of the wise and foolish builders was originally told by the master story-teller, Jesus, in Matthew 7. He was illustrating a critical principle: as the foundation goes, so goes the house.

When all 7 of my grandchildren were staying with us recently, Louisa undertook an interesting building project with the 5 kiddies old enough to participate: a gingerbread house.

I admired her pluck in attempting to manage a mob of youngsters along with bags of icing and bowls of candy, but she eagerly initiated it. In this case, the little house was all made of gingerbread, including its foundation. But it didn’t need to stand through any storm bigger than 10 little hands picking at it over the next few days.

As it turned out, that finger-picking was all it took to ultimately make the little gingerbread house fall. Apparently cookies and candies don’t make very good building materials.

When Jesus told his story about the wise and foolish men, his obvious point was that we should build our lives on a foundation that will continue to stand through any storm. He, of course, was and is that life-foundation for anyone who so chooses. Those who build on anything else eventually learn that turbulent circumstances carve away their foundation, putting them at risk for a fall. Or, as Jesus put it, for “a great fall.” (v. 27)

But he was making another point in this story, too. Before he got started he said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be…” wise.

He was saying, “I’m dishing out the truth here, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll buy what I’m about to say.”

He also detailed the flip side: “Anyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is foolish.” (v. 26) So if we’re sensible, we’ll build our lives on the Lord, not on money, reputation, possessions, behavior, or anything else that seems like good building materials at the time, but in a storm will surely crumble….

….just like a house made of gingerbread.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24)

Caught

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Margaret

A whole crowd of people in this world believe that disobeying the law is ok, unless you’re stupid enough to get caught. Then you deserve what you get.

Today stupid-me got caught. Birgitta, baby Emerald, and I were running errands when I passed a police car parked inconspicuously next to an auto body shop.

As I drove by, I reviewed a mental list of possible driving errors and was innocent on all counts. Proceeding with confidence, it surprised me when my rear view mirror lit up with police lights.

“Maybe it’s just a routine check for insurance and registration,” I thought. But when the police woman arrived at my window, she said, “You didn’t make a complete stop at that last stop sign.”

“I didn’t?” I said. “But I almost did, didn’t I?” She was not amused.

As she walked away with my license, registration, and insurance, I thought about how stupid I’d been to slide through a stop sign in front of a police car. But as Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does,” and I’d done something pretty stupid.

Bemoaning the mark on my driving record and the hike in my insurance that was sure to come, I thought about how failing to come to a complete stop hadn’t bothered me one bit… until I got caught. And truth be told, I’ve sloppy-stopped my way through scores of stop signs without getting caught, dismissing those “crimes” as ok. Now, mental repentance flowed.

Or did it? Maybe I was just wishing I hadn’t been caught. Sadly, that was it.

Scripture describes the human heart as “desperately wicked,” which is a whopping indictment against us all. The trouble is, we don’t really believe it. Haven’t we done some good things, too?

But more important than calculating our good-to-bad balance is another accusation Scripture makes alongside the words “desperately wicked.” Jeremiah 17:9 says the human heart is “sick, without a cure.”

So what’s to be done?

We’re to ask God for a favor: “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.” (v. 14) In other words, we’ll never heal our own desperate wickedness, but God can and will, if we ask.

Today as Birgitta and I waited for the bad news and guesstimated my fine, the police woman returned. “I’m giving you a warning,” she said, “but next time, make a complete stop.” It was an undeserved gift, an example of grace. Whether it came from her or from God I wasn’t sure, but I gratefully accepted it.

The question is, will I make “complete stops” from now on?

”I, Yahweh, examine the mind; I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

Delete that.

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Margaret

When families come together over the holidays, inevitably there are picture-taking sessions. Everybody lines up, and someone gives the universal command to “Say cheeeeese!”

Faces smile and cameras click, but when we inspect the finished product, results are mixed. Sprinkled amongst the happy poses we see faces with closed eyes, artificial smiles, goofy expressions, or strained looks. None of us are picture-perfect. Even in pictures.

We do strive for that, though, primping in front of mirrors and dressing in flattering clothes. Thinking we look pretty good, we smile for the camera with confidence, but often when we see the photo, we grimace and say, “Delete that.”

Never being satisfied with our exteriors probably emanates from not being satisfied with our interiors. But is that good or bad? Isn’t it prideful to think we really look good? Wouldn’t it also be pompous to assume we’ve “got it all together” on the inside, too?

According to Scripture, what’s happening outside and inside are polar opposites. Proverbs 31 says that dwelling on external beauty is vain. Working on being charming is defined as downright deceitful. (v. 30)

Yet we insist on deleting photos of ourselves that aren’t attractive, which encourages us to play mind games about external beauty. So we don’t like what we see in our pictures, but what are we supposed to do with those feelings of inadequacy and displeasure?

We’re to walk away from the camera and look inside instead.

What does it mean to focus on the inside? God details it for us. We’re to dwell on things that are worthy of praise, are lovely, pure, commendable, honorable, true, and just. (Philippians 4:8) If we do that, our insides will become beautiful, and something else interesting happens, too.

Our outsides, no matter what they physically look like, begin to take on a special attractiveness that is radiated from the inside out. We’ve all known people who are beautiful on the inside. We enjoy spending time with them and are willing to sacrifice just to be in a relationship with them. We can’t usually explain it, but we want to be around them.

Maybe that’s because they’ve taken on Christ-like characteristics inside, and after that, what they look like doesn’t matter at all. Psalm 27 tells us David found great satisfaction in “gazing upon the beauty of the Lord.” Maybe it’s a bit of His beauty that we’re recognizing as attractive within people who have their insides in order.

External beauty disappears with age, without exception. Inner beauty has staying power. As a matter of fact, it’ll stay with us throughout eternity. So let’s not fuss over pictures we want to delete but hold up a mirror instead to what’s happening on our insides. When that becomes beautiful, the rest of ourselves will follow.