February 16, 2007
Several years ago, I was the guest of a small church about an hour’s drive away from here. As I traveled, the bright light of the early morning April sun made the newly budding leaves emerging on the tree branches seem to glow with the fresh green of spring. As I pulled into the gravel parking lot of the church, the church building struck me as a cheerful and welcoming place. Indeed, the pastor and a lay leader were waiting to greet me at the door and ushered me into the old but charming structure where we prepared for the service that was to shortly follow.
After worshiping our living Lord with their church family and sharing a word of encouragement from the Bible with them, they generously invited me to join them in a meal in a small fellowship room connected to the sanctuary by a long hallway with small rooms on either side set apart for Bible study classes. As we shared together over that meal a bit from our respective spiritual journeys, I happened to remark about how pleasant the facility was in which they worshipped and from which they reached out to their community. The moment that the words left my mouth, an expression that bordered on glumness crossed a few of the members’ faces and I wondered if I had said something that had offended them.
The pastor noticed my confusion and quickly said, “Well, it’s funny that you should say that. We’re not going to be in it much longer.” I glanced at others seated about us and their expressions all had the same wistful look of something like regret that had flickered over the pastor’s face. “Well, that sounds like something either really exciting or something really sad,” I replied after a moment.
“Not knowing what the future holds for us,” a lady answered, “sometimes we forget ourselves and look at these circumstances from eyes of flesh and get a little sad. But God is in control. He has a plan for us.” “What’s happening?” I asked. “What are these ‘circumstances’ that you’re talking about?”
One of the men laughed. “This building was built on property given to the church a long time ago, before any of us were even members here. It turns out that the ground it was built on, the ground all around this area, is sand… or enough of it is that a building built on it that isn’t shored up right is in real trouble. We’ve done all right by it for a long time, but now it turns out that sinkholes all around here are causing all this sandy ground to shift. We’ve been notified that this building isn’t safe and that we’re going to have to vacate it.”
As what they shared with me sank into my mind, it seemed to me that I could sense that these brothers and sisters in Christ were wrestling with the temptation to feel discouraged and anxious about their future together as a church. And it proved to truly be a very difficult transition for them, from hosting their main worship in another church’s building when the other church was not holding services (the generosity of this other church family was just amazing), to some very serious and traumatic experiences that their pastor’s family later endured (a death, and a series of debilitating illnesses), they finally came through a valley of night, seeing God’s faithfulness in spite of that season of confusion and dark discouragement.
In fact, although their old building may have been built on the sand, their lives and testimony were constructed on something infinitely more dependable than any building, financial asset, or human relationship. The fact that their hope and confidence were built on the faithfulness of Christ poured through the windows of their souls when cataclysmic storms raged against them. And although their tender souls were bruised at times in the tumult about them, they have been lifted up, and now joyfully share the hope that sustained them with others in their community.
Their physical circumstances years ago may have been a gentle admonition from our Father in heaven to be sure that their faith was not built on mere feelings or on the delusion that a Christian’s life will be without pain and problems. “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” said Jesus in John 16:33.
And as certain as it is dangerous to build one’s life on emotions or on denial, a man or woman will find it a grave and fatal error to build his or her life on anything else than Christ Jesus. Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27 said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
It isn’t enough to go to church, dear one. If the Word of God isn’t somehow transforming your life through your choices, your values, and even your being, then it seems that you may be building your “house” on sand. What will be your fate when hurricanes of hurt and typhoons of trouble crash into your life and topple over the things to which you’ve given yourself? Will you be lost in the currents of the waves of circumstances swirling about you, reaching out and hoping that somebody will throw you a lifeline? Don’t wait until a catastrophe hits home before you tether yourself to the only real lifeline there is… Jesus and His love for you. After all, His special promise to us is that, “blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12 NIV).
(Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past eleven years. He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church, which meets on Sunday mornings at the Ariel Theatre. He may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).
