Daily Journal: 26 April

By Faith

Building analogies are poignant because we can see life through their construction. Whatever construction type that speaks to you can speak to the way you’re building your own life.

Floral design is about working with the assortment of flowers I have to my best ability within the time frame I have. With practise and a good eye, a beautiful floral design doesn’t have to have the most expensive flowers, nor be the fullest bouquet. Just a few pieces can make a great impact.

How can I apply living by faith to a floral design, or a garden design, a building design, even a bridge design?

Hebrews 11:8 (NIV)

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Abraham built his life along his travels, not knowing what each day would bring, but each day he moved toward where God called Him was an offering of obedience that built into eternal destiny. God called it righteousness.

Nobody knows the end result of their life but even so, we don’t live it randomly. Living by faith gives us greater purpose because we know that every day we are building a life that is going to be tested by fire. Whatever remains is what we’ll be rewarded for. We won’t be rewarded for all that we do. Only what has been tested through fire for its purity, and found of worth.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NLV)

Jesus Christ is the Stone on which other stones for the building must be laid. It can be only Christ. Now if a man builds on the Stone with gold or silver or beautiful stones, or if he builds with wood or grass or straw, each man’s work will become known. There will be a day when it will be tested by fire. The fire will show what kind of work it is. If a man builds on work that lasts, he will receive his reward. If his work is burned up, he will lose it. Yet he himself will be saved as if he were going through a fire.

Each day of my life is an opportunity to give of myself beneficially to my family, to the world, and as a pleasing offering to God, through faith.

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

I know that He is the God of the invisible and will create more out of what I present. I trust Him to help me build my life with rich insight, clarity, and an ever-increasing measure of wisdom and understanding, know-how and can-do.

Hebrews 11:3-4 (NIV)

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Faith is an eternal construct. Whatever we do in faith will remain.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (AMP)

And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.

What a concept.

When we build our lives based on these three things, faith, hope and love, offering each day back to God, using what He’s put in our hands, we are building into a destiny and a purpose that will last forever and continue to build into eternity.