Built to Last

Early in our marriage, my husband and I received hand-me-downs for most of our furniture. Even though our house was filled with pressed hollow wood, cheap fabrics, and water warped desktops, we were extremely grateful to have furniture in our house to use. However, some of the furniture given to us was handcrafted by my husbands grandfather–all of his pieces were made out of solid oak and were heavy-duty. We also received a dresser from my mom, which weighed over 100 lbs., and lasted through years of use from us kids growing up. All of these quality pieces of furniture we still own to this day.

As I have visited furniture stores throughout the years looking to upgrade, I have decided I am willing to wait to invest in quality furniture instead of buying cheap just to fill a room. As I have walked through these furniture stores, some of the showrooms look amazing until you look a little bit closer. The beautiful kitchen table displayed with a spectacular set of elegant contemporary dishes is only hollow wood when you knock on the table, and the dishes are made out of hard plastic melamine. Then there is that gorgeous dark cherry wood dresser that wiggles and shifts the second you open the top drawer. All of it has the appearance of quality, but is truly cheap furniture. I want my house to be filled with quality furniture that will last and stand the test of time. It may cost me more in time, money, and patience, but it will be so worth it.

You can take this same scenario and compare it to your spiritual house. You can have the appearance of looking good and having it all together on the outside, but when tested and tried, it will not last. This is just like a religious mindset–it has the appearance of godliness, but yet it is hollow to the core with no real substance. There is no real development of character, and no willingness to be pressed and tested. It is a house built upon shifting sands that when winds blow and storms arise, it will fall away.

A spiritual house that has been built upon a solid rock, refined in the fire, its rough edges made smooth, and put together by a Master Builder, is one that is built to last. It is not shaken in the midst of a storm, proves its character and strength in time, and leaves a legacy from one generation to the next. It is a house built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, filled with beauty, and displays the grace of God.

How are you going to build and fill your house?  Like the “foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall,” or like the wise man who when “the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matthew 7:25-27 As in the words of an old hymn–“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

My Hope Is Built (Hymn)

Text: Edward Mote, 1797-1874
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.

When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
(Refrain)

His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
(Refrain)

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne!
(Refrain)