Post Sunday Devotional Sunday, July 6

“The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1

“For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Galatians 2:18

On Sunday we explored the opportunities that we have to invite oxen into our lives, make a great big beautiful mess of things, and then begin to witness that “much increase” that the strength of an ox can help produce (Proverbs 14:4 “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of the ox.”).

All of us have a barn in which to bring in oxen. Some of your barns may be new, some may be old, some may be small, some may be ginormous, some may be as sturdy as a rock, some may sway wildly in the wind, but you all have barns that have been established and each one of those barns has been established by the grace of God (But by the grace of God I am what I am…1 Corinthians 15:10). I pray you have all at one point of your lives come to a place in which you were presented with the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ and you made an honest heart motivated decision toward and for Him. You welcomed Him into your life as your Savior and your Lord (Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”) Your new "barn" now houses the glorious life of Christ (Colossians 1:27 “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 3:3 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”)

You made a conscious decision to begin to allow God to build a new life within you, with you, for His glory and for your gain. There are varying reasons I am sure that you made that decision. You realized that your life no matter how good it may have been was still plagued with sin and that Jesus lovingly and willingly paid the price for your sin and through that price you are forgiven. You realized that anything you build, no matter how grand, no matter how inviting and lasting, is still at best temporary. Jesus invited you to live life building eternal things with Him. ( John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.")

Take a moment and reflect on that moment and time in your life when you made that decision for Jesus. Now read the two verses again that began this Post Sunday devotional (Proverbs 14:1 and Galatians 2:18). What would cause you to pull down what God has built in you? What would cause you to rebuild what you turned away from and left for ruin?

I shudder at the thought of returning to my old life. Yet I will be completely honest there are times in which I begin to think that it would be so much easier just to return to the days of old in Eric’s life. I get tired from time to time of taking care of the oxen that are still plowing up my life so more seeds can be planted in order for more fruit to be produced. It is tiring because the results aren’t instantaneous, but the care of the oxen is instantaneous. When we walk the oxen back to the stalls after a hard day’s work, the hard day’s work won’t be displayed for another 3 to 6 months or possibly longer. So while we care for the oxen, we seemingly are getting no reward, only more labor. There are days in which packing it in seem very attractive. But that is when I begin to shudder at the thought. What will I then go back to? My old life? The one that I left and I left for good reasons! Do I really think that the old life is going to be better the second time around (try like the 9th or 10th time around in some areas!).

It is the wise woman that builds her house the proverbs tells us. Builds is active, she takes the initiative and responsibility, it is no one else responsibility but her own. It is not the city of Haverhill’s fault if there is a hole in her roof, she climbs the ladder and repairs the roof, or she hires (brings in the right set of laborers) to assist her in repairing her roof. In contrast the foolish woman pulls down her house. Pulls down is also active. She is actively destroying what God has established within her. Maybe it is her lack of love for others, maybe her gossiping mindset, maybe her lack of self-control, maybe it is her poor speech or poor choice of friends (people she surrounds herself with for support and counsel), whatever it is she is tearing down the very vitality of her life, yet she clearly has no idea that this is what she does, she thinks she is tearing down in order to find something better.

Some of us may right now be struggling with our buildings because there are certain things we do not understand. We may be confused with what Jesus is trying to communicate to us and that is enough to have us consider abandoning our barns. I urge you to not leave and to not fear a lack of understanding. I still struggle understanding some things that God is communicating to me and I know I will have many more of those moments in the future. Stand firm and “…let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” James 1:4-6. When you stand firm your barn will begin to stabilize and become unmovable even in the midst of a twister. Bring in oxen that are able to help you understand and don’t speak to them with defensiveness and doubt, but in tenderness of heart and a willingness to listen and contemplate what you are hearing.

Some of us may be struggling with a sin that has plagued us for years. Sin is attractive and it does bring immediate satisfaction most of the time. The reason the sin feels like a plague is because it is a plague. It is keeping you from your full state of health for God. That is why after you fall to that sin you feel so sick inside and begin beating yourself up all over again. It is killing you to do it, yet the sin deceives you into thinking it will be absolutely great! (Romans 7). You need to bring in tough oxen. Oxen that have no fear of remaining with you in this cage match of You vs. Your sin. You need oxen that do more than simply pat you on the back when you’ve had a bad day, but are willing to delve down deep with you into that bad day and walk through the hell that desires your soul. You do not need the petite oxen in this case (if there is such thing as a petite ox!), you need the Hulk Hogan, Clint Eastwood oxen that will talk straight with you and won’t leave you because they are growing frustrated with your behavior. They are the oxen that have no problem staying on you despite your possible resistence.

Some of you may be struggling with loneliness. The loneliness of looking out your barnyard window and seeing all these people stop in at the other barns but never yours. Or the loneliness of a barn that once held others, but they have all since moved on, leaving you alone to keep the barn. That struggle may be calling you to abandon hope of relationship, to shut the doors for good and become unwelcoming and desolate. You may need to invite that 3rd party ox into your life. That ox that is willing to tell you straight up why no one ever stops by your barn. Maybe it is because you turn people away with how you speak to them or how you do not speak to them. Maybe your self-confidence is weak due to depression or past failure and you are hiding away without really realizing it, you need an ox that can properly assess that in your life.

I’m sure there are other reasons as well, but all of us have a barn built. The wise will continue to build upon it, no matter how difficult. Keep building. Let that building be firmly established upon the rock of Christ. With each passing storm you will grow more and more confident in that rock upon which your barn stands and the more and more oxen you will be able to house within it, which means all the more and more increase that will begin to come forth from your life.
If you are struggling, stay put in Christ, there is so much more to come! If you are soaring high, by all means share that glorious view of life that you now have, not as a means to brag about it to others, but let that glorious view fuel you to encourage others in their walk, help others with their barns without touting the success of yours.

Do not lose heart (see below verse), pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), do not abandon the connecting of yourself with other believers (Hebrews 10:25) and continue to live out the life of Christ within you.

Galatians 6:9-10 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Questions to Ask Yourself
1. Are you currently faithfully building, half-heartedly building or are you pulling down your building? Why?
2. Why do you think God desires us to pray to Him, read the Bible and to attend church?
3. What oxen do you have in your barn right now? Do your oxen feel cared for by you?

pastor e