Built On Christ

I was inspired to tackle some yardwork when I read Proverbs 24:27 that says, "Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house."  While the situation for me is different than the agrarian society that was predominant in Israel in ancient times, God's word still guides us into truth and blesses those who take steps of obedience by faith in God.

If I could put the sentiment of this verse in my own words, the principle held forth here is:  "First things first."  People who had land set aside for farming needed to make preparing the field their priority, for wheat and barley was not going to plant itself.  Making the field fit for planting supplied necessary food for people, seed for sowing and fodder for working animals.  For those who are not farmers or live in a community where a sufficient amount of food is grown for their survival, many people today work for money they exchange for food and daily necessities.  The principle of this proverb is to prioritise work that helps provide for your needs for survival, and having done this you can concern yourself with renovating the house.  It would be better to have any honest job than to remain unemployed because it is not your ideal career or aligns with your interests.  Paul affirmed the responsibility of people to contribute by working in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:  "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this:  if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."

It occurred to me as I was stacking besser blocks the spiritual implications of the proverb must be addressed in the opposite order:  the rebellious inner man must be addressed before outer behaviour.  Our human inclination is to prioritise appearing to "clean up our act" by focusing on outward works rather than dealing with our inner man.  Because Jesus knows the hearts of mankind, He saw past the clean exterior of the Pharisees and perceived they were spiritually dead in sins on the inside.  Their primary need was to be born again by faith in Jesus, to be made new creations by the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit who indwells Christians.  Ephesians 2:8-9 shows we cannot earn good standing and righteousness by efforts of our flesh:  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast."  No amount of good works can open the gates of God's kingdom to us, for we must first confess our sin and enter in through the Door (who is Jesus Christ) by faith in Him.

Having been born again by faith, then we are to seek to live in the manner that is pleasing to God:  loving and forgiving one another, being a servant of all according to Christ's example, trusting and obeying God and His word.  Without Jesus we can do nothing, and through faith in Christ we can do all things because He gives us strength.  Having been born again, Paul compared believers to being God's field and His building.  He wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, "According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."  First things first:  the foundation must be laid before the house can be built, and we must be born again before we build properly on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  Reversing the order means we are building a life without a foundation in Christ, and the eventual fall and destruction of those who build foolishly are assured.