Story-Teller
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Building Lives
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on the rock....” - Matthew 7:24.
John Maxwell in his book “Falling Forward” says: “No matter what happens to you, failure is an inside job.” I think we can add to John Maxwell’s statement that “no matter what happens to you success is also an inside job.” With that said it is necessary to define success. The Biblical definition of success is found in I Timothy 6:6: “Now Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Most of us have heard of the bonfire tragedy at Texas A & M University. 12 students were killed and 27 others were injured some seriously. We wonder how such a thing could happen. The failure appears to have been an inside job. An investigating panel at the University has recently concluded their investigation into the causes of the tragedy. The commission determined: "...the lowest stack, however, had inadequate wiring to hold it together. Steel cables used in recent years were not used in 1999.” In other words the bonfire stack had a poor foundation. What is true of bonfire stacks is also true of the human life. Without a good foundation we are doomed to failure.
What is the right foundation for life? “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ”
(I Corinthians 3:11).
Once we have the right foundation we must then build with the right materials and in the right way. “But let each one take heed how he builds on it” (I Corinthians 3:10b). Even after a good foundation of a building is laid there can still be problems. You can build a house with shoddy materials and poor workmanship and a strong wind will blow it down. You can build a life with shoddy materials and the storms of life will destroy it. Without God’s building materials, without His resources (Philippians 4:19) being used in our lives, we are doomed to failure before we start.
If your life was a building and the Lord was a building inspector would you pass the inspection?
By Ed Wrather
Submitted by Richard
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on the rock....” - Matthew 7:24.
John Maxwell in his book “Falling Forward” says: “No matter what happens to you, failure is an inside job.” I think we can add to John Maxwell’s statement that “no matter what happens to you success is also an inside job.” With that said it is necessary to define success. The Biblical definition of success is found in I Timothy 6:6: “Now Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Most of us have heard of the bonfire tragedy at Texas A & M University. 12 students were killed and 27 others were injured some seriously. We wonder how such a thing could happen. The failure appears to have been an inside job. An investigating panel at the University has recently concluded their investigation into the causes of the tragedy. The commission determined: "...the lowest stack, however, had inadequate wiring to hold it together. Steel cables used in recent years were not used in 1999.” In other words the bonfire stack had a poor foundation. What is true of bonfire stacks is also true of the human life. Without a good foundation we are doomed to failure.
What is the right foundation for life? “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ”
(I Corinthians 3:11).
Once we have the right foundation we must then build with the right materials and in the right way. “But let each one take heed how he builds on it” (I Corinthians 3:10b). Even after a good foundation of a building is laid there can still be problems. You can build a house with shoddy materials and poor workmanship and a strong wind will blow it down. You can build a life with shoddy materials and the storms of life will destroy it. Without God’s building materials, without His resources (Philippians 4:19) being used in our lives, we are doomed to failure before we start.
If your life was a building and the Lord was a building inspector would you pass the inspection?
By Ed Wrather
Submitted by Richard
