A few mornings ago, Pam and I ran up to our lot to check up on our house, which is being framed. With no roof on our framing, and after getting 6-7 inches of snow the previous night, we wondered what it would look like. When we got there, we were amazed! Our house looked like a snowboarding course out of the X Games! I could just imagine Shaun White carving down the 2X4 hand rail, soaring through the living room, then flying out the window with a flip and scoring a perfect 10 from the judges in our backyard.

Lately I’ve been thinking about God’s work in us. He’s always building, sanding edges, and reinforcing the structure of our souls. And sometimes, He needs to knock down a wall or two to make space for something new. He’s always working in us to produce masterpieces that reflect His glory and goodness (Ephesians 2:10).

Any good contractor knows that you can’t build a masterpiece using shoddy materials. With that in mind, what kinds of materials should we be using as we partner with God in the renovation process? You probably noticed the red/pink color of our framing. It’s that color because our builder is using a fire/mold/termite resistant wood. While the foundation of our lives is important, it’s also crucial to use good, quality materials when building on that foundation. Do the activities, passions, relationships, and desires of our lives reflect the sturdiness of our foundation– the heart and values of the Master Builder?

Paul writes on this same topic to followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth, where there were plenty of other gods and places they could have put hope:

“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-13)

In some future posts we’ll talk about various quality materials that Jesus uses to build supporting structures in our lives of faith. In the meantime, what does the framework of your life look like? I know I need to assess the materials I use to build my own personal framework. In doing so, we partner with God to build mansions of glory.