“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.” Psalm 118:22
Guess what I learned today in my devotional? Jesus was actually a builder!
From my devotional “The Rook, The Road, and The Rabbi” by Kathie Lee Gifford:
“The word carpenter in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 for how Joseph and Jesus made a living is the Greek word tekton. It means builder.” It went on to explain there were only rocks in Israel. “Jesus was not a carpenter. Jesus was a stone mason.”
Mind blowing! Until you stop and think about it. Jesus is the Master Craftsman. (By the way, it did clarify that tekton can actually be translated as stone mason or architect.)
Here’s a link to the devotional: http://bible.com/r/2vV in case you want to check it out. She really drew a lot of great analogies about how Jesus is the architect of Creation. How He brings order out of chaos. Really worth a read.
I digress. What really caught my attention is Jesus as a builder. When I think of my relationship with God and others, I think of them as being built. One day at a time. One interaction at a time. One moment at a time.
My relationship with God is built every morning when I seek Him. When I open His Word and engage with it. When I lower myself to my knees and pray. When I seek His people and ask for their insight and wisdom. Over a span of 48 years, I have built a very strong relationship with God. We have gone through a lot of dark days together, as well as happy ones. Each of them built one stone at a time.
Building my relationship with God is what then builds my relationship with people.
When I’m praying for difficult relationships, I ask God for the building blocks I need to restore it, preserve it or enhance it. Building blocks can easily be defined as the fruit of the Spirit we find in Galatians 5:22-23:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. “
Applying those to any relationship will build it stronger. Building it on the Rock of Jesus will make it indestructable. I love what Ecclesiastes 4:12 says about relationships:
“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” (NLT)
The triple thread is God.
Build first with Jesus, then build with people.
I love thinking about Jesus as a builder. Kathy Lee is right, there are a lot more applications from this one tidbit of information. For me, I went with Jesus the Builder. Grateful for His strong foundation!
What do you think? Is Jesus a builder in your life?
Jesus, the Builder
