“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” Proverbs 14:1
I was taking down my Christmas lights last year when my neighbor came out and commented, “It is a lot easier to take them down than to put them up, isn’t it?” It sure is! And as our Lincoln Light Show Festival at church ended this past year, we took the lights and decorations off our hayride trailer. What took 2 people over an hour to hang, was down in 5 five minutes with a pair of plyers and a pocketknife.
So it is with life, isn’t it? It is so much easier to tear down than it is to build up. As sinful people, tearing down comes naturally for us and it takes almost no effort at all. Any fool can do it.
Several years ago, I went on a mission trip to Alaska with a group of people knowledgeable in construction. I didn’t know much at all about construction, so they gave me a sledgehammer and showed me a shed that needed to be torn down. Now that I could do!
But God wants us to be people who build up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us, “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” It takes skill, thought, time, and intention to build up. It takes effort. It requires resistance to the tearing down that can come so naturally.
I’m reminded that God gave His life to see us built up. He sacrificed Himself to give us new life in Him. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I pray to be a person who grows to reflect the life and restoration that God has graciously given us in Christ.