Colossians 2:7 “being rooted and built in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.”

There is new housing construction across the street from our neighborhood. On weekend afternoons, my husband and I like to go explore these new homes in their various stages of being built. Some of them are nothing more than concrete and foundation, others have studs and the beginning of a roof, while others are near completion. To our untrained eyes, those homes with just a foundation look like nothing more than concrete slabs sticking out of the ground. We cannot imagine or guess what the house will look like once it’s built. While those with studs and a roof, kind of resemble a house, but still to our untrained eyes it’s hard to guess what the structure might look like once walls are formed and rooms are more defined. Even those homes that are almost complete look completely different to us than to the designer and decorator.

Colossians 2:7 “being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.” Read those first few words again – “being rooted and built”. Perhaps it’s because of the new homes being built near us or perhaps it’s because our church is beginning a remodeling project and I see and hear the sights and sounds of construction pretty much every day, these few words captured my attention and caused me to read them over and over again.

Like only he can, the Holy Spirit began to use this analogy to speak to me. You see, building is a process, one that takes time. Depending on the size of the project, building can take months or even years. Often days and weeks will pass without appearing that any progress is being made. On the flip side, there are also times when the progress seemingly explodes. When you step back and look, I think you’ll find that the same is true with our lives and the way they are being built. This can be backed up by scripture as well. Take a look at Philippians 1:6 – “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” This passage also leads us to understand that we are a work in progress, Jesus isn’t done with us yet!

Think about the foundation for example, they are more than slabs of concrete; each piece has a specific size, purpose and placement. While to untrained eyes it looks like nothing, to the architect who has designed the structure it makes complete sense. The same is true for our Christian lives; God is the architect who has not only designed and formed us, but placed us exactly where he wants us, with him as our firm foundation. Matthew  7:24 and Isaiah 28:16  both support this truth by telling us the “wise build their houses on the Rock” and “God has laid a cornerstone (Jesus), a sure foundation that cannot be shaken”. It is so easy to get frustrated because we look at our lives and see a mess of concrete that makes absolutely no sense. During those times, it’s hard to remember that God is our architect, he has a plan that makes complete sense to him. But for us, while we are in various building stages and our lives seem messy and confusing, we have to remind ourselves that we are not the builder, that’s Jesus and his plan is perfect! The building he is doing in us will probably surprise us because we are not God, we can’t see what he sees or know what he knows. It is so hard for us to give up that control, but so necessary for us to trust our architect!

There is something else about foundations that we can easily miss. They need time to cure and set. If you build on them too soon, the walls and roof will not be stable or strong. The same is true with us, we need time to sit and rest in Jesus, our foundation, before we build or add additional bricks. We may think we are ready to enter the next phase of building, but we have to wait for our architect to tell us what comes next and when the time is right. Those of us who are impatient find it easy is it to look at our lives and not see progress or not enough progress, so we rush ahead and start building on a shaky foundation. One difference between our lives and structures is that resting in our foundation isn’t a one time thing, instead we must build in a regular routine of resting in our foundation over and over again. If we don’t wait for Jesus and make time to rest in him our walls get shaky, we make foolish mistakes and often find ourselves needing to go back and correct mistakes and try again. And that is ok- we have to remember we “are being built”!

While it would be easy for me to continue writing and sharing about each phase of the building process and what the Holy Spirit revealed to me, I think you get the idea. So, I’d like to encourage you to stop reading my words, pick up your Bible and read his! Pray and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you need to see or understand about your life. Don’t loose heart -God is working and as I often have to be reminded “his ways are not my ways; they are higher than my ways and thoughts” Isaiah 55:9 (paraphrase).

We may not understand how this building (our lives) we see can ever become house or home, but we can rest in the fact that we have a Master architect and builder who has a perfect plan! Just a Colossians 2 tells us we “are being built”, we are not yet completed! Sometimes progress will seem obvious and other times it won’t -it’s ok because our foundation is unshakable. In fact, I would even bet that if you focus on the foundation of Jesus, trusting him to do all the planning and building you won’t even recognize your life a few months from now, let alone in a year.