Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” Matthew 7:24,NIV

I must confess that I feel a twinge of sadness whenever I view a building that has fallen into decay. An old barn especially seems to deteriorate rapidly once it is no longer in use. The siding warps, nails rust and loose their grip, and the doors sag. Once the roof starts to open to the weather, pockets of decay start to eat away at the joints that hold the entire structure together. Each blast of wind weakens the building until it succumbs to a force that would not have troubled the building in its original condition.
How proud the owner and the builder must have been when the new building was completed! Solid, smelling of new wood, paint, and gleaming hardware. Ready to serve the needs of the people who valued the security it provided.
There are many other buildings, equally as old, and no more sturdy when built than the decayed edifice, that still stand despite the same ravages of time and weather. The difference seems obvious - someone cared enough to maintain the one; the other was given up to decay.
If we care to look, we can find numerous examples of people whose lives parallel the life of a building. They start out strong and firm, full of promise, and respected for their abilities. Then something enters their life that starts to gnaw away at their potential. One little thing leads to another. Perhaps it becomes an obsession, a compulsion, one step after another down a path leading to a weakening moment when tribulation can no longer be overcome.
I have known of successful businessmen destroyed by addiction to drink. Athletes, endowed with uncommon ability, brought down in their prime of life by compulsive gambling or drug addiction. Artists and musicians who were not able to manage fame and wealth.
We can look around and see many other people who have weathered the storms of life. Quite possibly they were influenced by someone who cared. People who led them past the temptations that that are so plentiful in society. People who took the time to be there in the time of need, to be a good neighbor, and to extend a helping hand in the name of a loving God reaching a world in need .
People need a standard to follow through life. Jesus talked about building a life on a firm foundation, like a house built on a rock. So many people today seem to prefer the ‘sand’ of life, because it is easily worked to their every whim. The easy way provides instant gratification. However, the easy way can not stand the test of time and trial.
A life built on the Rock of Jesus will endure.
August 17, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 b,NKJV)
It is not often that you enter a ‘skyscraper’ building from the top, and go down. Yet, I have done just that! The Pan Am Building in New York City, finished in 1963, was at that time the largest commercial office building in the world. And it had the novel feature of offering helicopter service between New York’s major airports to a heliport on the roof of the building. I experienced the thrill of flying over the city, looking down upon the roofs, and watching as we proceeded to land on the top of that skyscraper.
One of the “Superman” movies used the same scenario, but I am glad to relate that we didn’t need the ‘Man of Steel’ on my landing.
The building was later sold to Metropolitan Life Insurance, and helicopter flights were discontinued.
I have also ascended the Empire State Building, in New York City, and the Sears Tower in Chicago - by more conventional means. Though each building once ranked among the tallest buildings in the world, newer construction dwarfs even these majestic towers.
While it might seem appropriate to make some reference here to a more ancient “heaven reaching” tower, (that of Babel in Genesis 11,) I think that the reasoning for these modern towers has little to do with partaking of the power and glory of God, and more to do with making money. Lots of money!
As tall, as gigantic as these skyscrapers may be, there are two basic principles that make their construction possible. First - the taller the building, the deeper the foundation. Second - the buildings are designed to be flexible. They sway with a strong wind, and are engineered to withstand earthquakes. The well engineered building can stand with integrity; When the testing comes, they stand.
Humility is not something that you generally associate with a skyscraper. Something that seems to stand so tall and proud would not seem to be related to modest pretensions or dimensions, one of the definitions of humble. In fact, many of the definitions for ‘humble’ or ‘humility’ suggest low social, administrative, or political rank. But I also find elements more in line with the humility espoused in the Bible: self-effacing, unassertive; unpresuming, modest, unassuming. Humility, in my view, is not an indicator of shallowness, rather, the taller the building, the deeper the foundation.
So, too, personal humility is deeply rooted in moral and spiritual bedrock. Humility in God flexes when the winds of controversy swirl. The true leader does not “lord it over” others, is not mean or vindictive. They are not puffed up, nor ostentatious. The shallow roots of popular opinion will not hold when truth and justice come forth, but God will give grace to the humble.
We read of the destruction of poorly designed, shoddily built, inflexible buildings with inadequate foundations, often hastily built and boldly promoted to the monetary benefit of the owner. Are they then proud of the calamity and ruin for which they are responsible?
Lives and careers, also, collapse when the testing comes. Selfish ambition and conceit are counter to true humility.
God will give grace to the humble who are rooted deeply in moral and spiritual values. “Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.” (Philippians 2:8)