I'm a terrible gift-giver. I'm not proud of it but I have honesty and introspection in sufficient quantity to admit it. I won't bore you with excuses, suffice it to say that it's to the point where my wife will buy presents for herself now.
My wife is not like me, she knows exactly what people want and she will buy precisely the right gift at the right time so she will get a good deal as well.
God isn't like either of us, He gave us the ultimate gift at precisely the right time but paid the ultimate price. Some accept His gift, some choose to buy their own.
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. - 2 Corinthians 9:15
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
House construction
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
- Psalm 127:1
We're building a house right now and it's exciting and scary. Our last house was perfect for us but now with 3 kids in one bedroom and one of them a 13yr old, it was getting a bit tight.
Some of us were more sentimental about leaving our old house than others... I'll tell you what I mean.
One of the doors in our family room had a broken glass pane. So to help make the house more attractive to buyers, I replaced it and took the old door to the dump.
When I got home one of my sons looked like his dog had been run over, "I never got a chance to say goodbye to the old door", he said.
When I was packing some things for the move, I looked in his treasure box. Neatly folded inside was a drawing of the old door. He even drew the cracks in the broken pane.
Sometimes we want to hold onto the broken and ugly things in our hearts because we're used to them. But if we hang onto sin or place our treasures above Christ, I believe He will cleanse our hearts with the same zeal He had for the temple in Jerusalem . That thought is exciting and scary.
When I read Psalm 127 I think about how I want Jesus to rule my heart and guard my mind just like He built and maintained the Temple in Israel and protected Jerusalem. And when the Temple became filled with greed and deceit He drove the moneychangers out with a whip.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.
- Luke 6:45-49
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
- Psalm 127:1
We're building a house right now and it's exciting and scary. Our last house was perfect for us but now with 3 kids in one bedroom and one of them a 13yr old, it was getting a bit tight.
Some of us were more sentimental about leaving our old house than others... I'll tell you what I mean.
One of the doors in our family room had a broken glass pane. So to help make the house more attractive to buyers, I replaced it and took the old door to the dump.
When I got home one of my sons looked like his dog had been run over, "I never got a chance to say goodbye to the old door", he said.
When I was packing some things for the move, I looked in his treasure box. Neatly folded inside was a drawing of the old door. He even drew the cracks in the broken pane.
Sometimes we want to hold onto the broken and ugly things in our hearts because we're used to them. But if we hang onto sin or place our treasures above Christ, I believe He will cleanse our hearts with the same zeal He had for the temple in Jerusalem . That thought is exciting and scary.
When I read Psalm 127 I think about how I want Jesus to rule my heart and guard my mind just like He built and maintained the Temple in Israel and protected Jerusalem. And when the Temple became filled with greed and deceit He drove the moneychangers out with a whip.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.
- Luke 6:45-49
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