Construction Project

            After our house fire in the early 1950's, my Father began making plans to construct a new home on a different part of the property. Finally a bulldozer came and dug the hole where the basement would be. Dad went down to the hole with boards and chalk line and began laying our the footer. Concrete was poured into the boards and with string, levels, trowels and such, He began to make sure that everything was as level as possible. This would be the base where the cement blocks would begin to go up. Soon the walls were up as he laid the blocks one by one after driving truck all day and on the week ends. As the blocks went to the maximum height, beams were put across and covered with wood and then tar paper was put over the top. The basement was finished including the “upstairs” bathroom as it would be in the finished house. Dad put the tile down on the floor, did the plumbing, constructed the kitchen and soon we moved into the basement of the new house. We stayed there for the next six years, safe, warm and as snug as a bug in a rug. After that, he purchased the frame of a modular home and set on top of the structure, and then did all of the finishing including the wiring and the pluming and the roofing of the house. It took about 8 years, but the house was finished. I saw the finished product after I came home from the Navy while on leave. Some projects take a while to finish. Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” 

        Every believer, including you and me, are a continual work in progress. This spiritual project is going on right now even as you read this small devotion. God is continually working in so many areas of our lives maturing us into the finished work that will be completed the day you meet the Lord Jesus Christ. We are never going to be complete while on this earth, but we will be going through the daily construction that God will be doing on that particular day. God may use something soft and soothing in certain areas, but then comes the chisel that will be used to chip away all that does not look like the finished product. A sculptor was once asked how he made a statue. The sculptor was making a horse at the time, and he replied that he simply chipped away everything that didn't look like a horse. God is currently chipping away everything that does not look like a finished saint of His family. While the process is going on, we may feel that life is too hard or that we are not going to make it or what else can happen today. God knows all of that while He forms you into the finished product. That brings us to His promise. He will finish the work but it will be on His time schedule and in the manner in which He works and not our own. God knows how much you can take and what the outcome is going to be so just be patient as you continue to grow into His finished product. It will be finished on your “coronation day.” That is the day that you will be welcomed into heaven itself. As the Apostle Paul said, We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Praise God for the working of the Master Carpenter.