While we were living in Michigan we went through the process of building our house. We’d heard that building a house is one of the most stressful undertakings a couple can embark on. The only thing we argued about was the doorknobs! I’ll never forget it, standing in Home Depot and ‘discussing’ what amounted to about $2 a doorknob. Other than that, we navigated the waters of construction pretty well.
There was another part of building that house that really sticks in my mind. It’s the front corner of the garage. You see, that corner cost us an extra $2500! It started by having to dig down a little further to get to the bedrock for the footing. But because we had to dig that corner down further, we then had to excavate the entire garage, then it all had to be back-filled – that’s a process in and of itself.
I can remember standing there looking at that corner amazed that something that would never again see the light of day, was costing us so much money. Of course, without spending that extra money and doing it right, the garage would have started falling apart in time.
Often times I’ve remembered that process and seen the similarities in my own life. I know that I’ve got to work on the ‘inside stuff’ – the stuff that no-one will ever directly see. If I work on the inside stuff, the outside stuff will fall into place. In our culture, we are subtly told to look after the outside stuff… to be image conscious.
Jesus confronted the religious crowd, who should have known better: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
If we making working on the inside stuff – our character – our outside stuff – our reputation – will take care of itself. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul gives us a list of character traits that we can use as measuring rods in our life to see how we are doing. They are not as easy, nor as simple, as we first may read. We – I – must submit ourselves to God’s constructive hand in our life.
