Building up or Knocking Down

I don't consider myself much of a carpenter or a repair man for that matter. I'm not very good with a saw and I am much worse with any forms of electrical tools. Give me a sledge hammer though and I can make it work.

This last couple of days I have been removing a harth from my house. It is made of cement stones and brick. I have loved just about every minute of it, in fact my 3 year old looked at me when we were almost done and said, "Lets do this to the whole house!"

Sometimes as Christians we fail miserably at building one another up. Let's face it, that is one of the traits of being a human being. If we are down in dumps, it feels much better to bring other along, or if we are feeling great, we better kick others down before they kick us. Once you get started, it's hard to stop, if you're not careful, you've destroyed the whole house without even knowing it.

Paul is very clear about how we are to treat one another. "Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humilty, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another and forgive. . ." Colossians 3:12-13a. Yikes, that is a lot of goody goody stuff floating around.

Stop for a minute and think about this though. Isn't it nice to be around people who are like this. I know a few and I much perfer their presence over say, almost anyone. Now, here is a much deeper question. Do those verses describe you? I know, touchy, but think about it. Are you that kind of person or are you destructive in nature?

I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble, infact my hope is that all of us will treat one another in the way that Paul describes how we should. I sense that if we were truly this kind of people all of the time that everyone would want to know what this faith thing was about.

For know though, we can try. We can put our best foot forward and when we fail, and accidently on purpose destroy something, we will strive to build one another up. Not for our glory, because it's not about me anymore.

aaron