Ancient Home Builder’s Secrets Still Produce
Rooms of Treasure Today
Welcome back to Proverbs Pathways. How’s life? Confidence in and from God enables us to evict the “if” homesteading in the middle of our life and start living with new assurance and purpose. This is especially true in our challenge to build a loving and enduring home life. We need an edge, a blueprint that really produces quality, durability and beauty – rare treasures today. Wise King Solomon motivates us with three home builder’s secrets found in Proverbs 24:3,4: “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” Let’s break this sage wisdom down so we can build up those special ones sharing our rooms at home. There’s no treasure like treasure at home.
“By wisdom a house is built.” Wise home builders build on the bedrock of loving commitment, not the sinking sand of convenience. A wise man knows that it takes more than a truckload of building materials from Home Depot to build a home. Any “smart” person can build a house; only a “wise” person can build a home. The three prayers of a wise builder are: Dear God, be my bedrock, my foundation. Father, make me the kind of building material my family can rely on. Lord, help me build my family relationships to stand in the storms of life. Amen. Who’s your builder? WorldlySmart Inc. or GodlyWisdom Inc.? Many a home-builder has built a new kind of home through God’s wisdom. And so can we.
“We establish our home through understanding.” So many have misunderstood so much when it comes to establishing our homes. Someone asks, “What’s to misunderstand?” Here’s an example: When love is misunderstood our home life disintegrates – some even abandon it. Many think that real love is mostly being sexy, infatuated with another, cute, witty, popular, money, abs, connected, whiter teeth and tanned skin! I hope you can be all these things if you want – but it won’t establish you or the loved ones in your home. Godly wisdom understands what real love is: LOVE is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not prideful. It’s not rude, not self-absorbed, not hair-trigger angry, not vengeful, not quick to see, say, do wrong. LOVE loves truth, protects family, trusts one another, is always hopeful and forever perseveres. Read it with your family verbatim in I Corinthians 13:4 Nothing makes home “homier” than real love – the God kind, the Jesus kind, the Holy Spirit kind.
“Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”Knowledge is “know-how”. Wisdom uses know-how to establish our home. The result? Rooms of rare, beautiful treasures. This has nothing to with floor plans, carpets, drapes, furnishings, color schemes – it’s all about the people living with us in our rooms at home. When we build God’s way we become a treasure to others and we help Him build loving family members – treasures to live, love, laugh and last with every day. We’re not treasure hunters, we’re treasure builders. It doesn’t happen overnight, easily, without a labor of love or painful perseverance – but it can be done by anyone who turns to God and says, “Dear God, build some treasures out of the raw materials in my home – and begin with me.”
To conclude, read what Jesus Himself said about building in Matthew 7:24-27. Take the “Carpenter of Life’s” word for it and lay out your foundation.
God loves you and every member of your family.
Chuck Brannon, Pastor
P.S.: Share your story or have a question? Let me hear from you.