Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A Pair of Robins

The birds were busy building a nest for their young.
They worked hard to bring in the material needed
and to place it where it belonged. They had great
intentions, were persistent, faithful and determined!
The trouble was, they picked the wrong place.
They picked a slanted 2x4 whose end was helping
to hold up the roof of our porch. There was about
a two to three inch opening on one end that rapidly
diminished--not even enough room for one Robin to
sleep in that spot! Over the next two weeks the nest
got thicker and longer, but only on the long slant,
nothing stayed put on the top where they kept
working. Two hours before the big storm, I got a
picture. (See Face Book) Needless to say, the whole
nest blew down even as I watched. THE NEXT
DAY, the Robins were at it again. They 'threw in the
towel' when a fresh breeze undid all their labor.

What a picture of the average Christian trying to live
the Christian life out of their own ideas, their own
strength, their own resources. The thing has to be
taken care of NOW! And so we plunge into the
project without asking God if the idea is a good one
or how He wants us to build. With energy and
determination, we push through to the end--
spending many hours re-arranging the straw!

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about how to lay the
foundation in Christ and then how to build on that
foundation:

'Each one's work will become manifest, for the 
Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by 
fire, and fire will test what sort of work each one 
has done. If the work built on the foundation 
survives, 
he will receive a reward. 
If anyones work is burned up, 
he will suffer loss 
though he himself will be saved, 
but only as through fire.' 
(Start back at 1Cor 3:5-15)

Reader, be careful how you build!

No comments: