TWO BUILDERS

"I don't bother over anything that is replaceable when damaged or lost: because it can be replaced, I only bother about those things that can't be replaced, like life." - Esther Omiunu

TWO BUILDERS

It is funny how people go through life, striving, toiling and worrying about things that are temporal. Things that eventually pass. Most, completely forget to consider the truly important things in life - family, relationship and their soul.

A little boy is on his knees scooping sand with plastic shovels building a sand castle. All afternoon he works, packing the walls. Bottle caps will be sentries. Sticks will be bridges. A sand castle will be built. Meanwhile, a man is at his desk shuffling papers into stacks and delegating assignments. He cradles the phone on his shoulder and punches the keyboard. Numbers are juggled and contracts are signed. Much to his delight, profit is made. All his life he works. Formulating the plans. Forecasting the future. Annuities will be sentries. Capital gains will be bridges. An empire will be built. Two builders, two castles. They - the boy and the man - have much in common. They shape granules into grandeur. They see nothing and make something. They are diligent and determined. For both the tide will rise and the end will come. Yet, this is where the similarities cease. The boy sees the end, while the man is unaware of it. As the waves near, the child jumps to

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST III

“If you are renewed by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you would be very anxious to get out of his company.” - Charles H. Spurgeon

Grace

Grace never comes to proliferate sin. If anything, it comes to tame it. For grace does not only create an escape route from the consequences of sin, but also creates an escape route from sin itself. In Michael Horton’s, The Agony of Deceit, he wrote that “Someone confronted Martin Luther upon his rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification, with the remark:

"If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!"

"Indeed!" answered Luther.

"Now, what pleases you?"

Augustine was the great preacher of grace during the fourth and fifth centuries. Although, his understanding of the doctrine of justification did not have the fine-tuned precision of Luther’s, Augustine's response on this point was similar to Luther's. He said that the

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST II

"Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace." - Jerry Bridges

Grace

Jack Wellman said remarkably at the conclusion of a sermon, "Preach grace as often as you can, as much as you can, for as much of the glory of God as you can because that’s what grace is. It is unmerited favour at Christ’s expense. It’s what He gives us that we do not deserve, nor can ever deserve, or can ever earn. That’s why grace is so amazing."

The story was once told of Henry Moorhouse. He made several trips to America to preach in the late 1800s. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster’s side and found him unhurt but terrified.

"My mamma’ll whip me!" he cried.

YOUR EXPERIENCE IS A LESSON

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill

Lesson

Have you ever by chance experienced so much pain and cruel treatment, you wondered if you committed a crime you were unaware of? You begin to wonder how God could've abandoned you even though you're born again. Most times, you must understand, God gives you a destiny then gives you grace to bear the "preparation" for the fulfillment of that destiny.

The mother giraffe gives birth standing up, so the first thing that happens to a new-born giraffe is, falling about two metres to the ground. Still dazed, the baby tries to stand up

HUSH, BE STILL 2

"The sound of 'gentle stillness' after all the thunder and wind have passed will (come) the ultimate Word from God." - Jim Elliot 

Hush II

As a wise man traveled with a couple of his subjects, they got to a lake: so they stopped to rest. He asked for water from the lake, to cool his thirst. Obediently, one of his subjects rushed to the lake, but noticed people doing their laundry in the water. As a result the water was very muddy. "I can't give this water to my master." he said, and returned. "The water in the lake is too muddy. It is not suitable for drinking" he reported. After a long while, "Go get me water from the lake." the wise man instructed the subject again. This time the mud had settled, and the water was clear, so he got some and brought it to his master. "See what you did to make the water clean..." the master lectured. "...you let it stay still, and the mud settled."

It is the same with us. When we're disturbed, the waters of our lives become so muddy, it's almost useless...but if we can just hush, and allow it stay still. It is no wonder, we see many people on a daily basis running around frantically, trying to get rid of the issues in their lives. When all they need is a little stillness. Their lives are already muddied and dirty, but for lack of patience, they get the whole situation more disturbing.