Landon helping Joel Crider the electrician drill a hole!
If you have ever built a house, you have probably heard this phrase a few thousand times! This is why most folks don’t come close to their budget. Contractors and salesmen use this line to get you to upgrade which makes them more money. I have been thinking about this concept a bunch the last couple of weeks as we are planning on insulating our new house this coming Tuesday followed by sheet-rocking the walls. The plumbers, heat and air vendor, and electrician have been doing all of their rough-in work the last couple of weeks.
When you are building your home you know that if you want to get a light, receptacle, TV outlet, or water fixture in a certain location you need to do it now. It is much harder to change after the sheet-rock is added. All of us have lived in homes where we wished there was a receptacle here or light in this location. But we make do, because it is not worth the effort and cost to add it in a completed home.
We have been living in the window of when it can be changed! In the timeframe of where we are choosing what to put in and where it is to go. This has meant we have to answer lots of questions and check on the house daily. It has also created this since of anxiety for us. What are we forgetting? What are we doing we wish we would have done differently. What obvious things are we neglecting? Is this flexible and as best possible accommodating for the future plans? It is stressful to consider all of these things knowing “if you are going to do it, do it now!” Plus you have that little issue of MONEY which affects everything!
As I have thought about this concept and the longterm implications of our decisions, being a preacher I wonder if people should have more of this thought about their spiritual lives. Too many live each day thinking there is no deadline. Acting like they have plenty of time in the future to change and get right with the Lord. How would folks live differently, if they knew they were making decisions that would greatly impact the future! We all need this lesson, but young folks and college students especially need to consider this thought. They often live with no thought about today’s actions affecting the future. But it will! The choices you make today, construct the house you will live in the rest of your life!
So I say to all of us spiritually regarding our spiritual temple and house, “If we are going to do it, do it now!” Make wise and good choices that will build a house you want to live in for years to come. I believe the Lord was making a similar point when he talked about the wise and foolish builder (Mat. 7: 24-27).
1 comment
Great message, brother. I can relate to your pain and anxiety in house building; we did that a few years ago. I would do it again. In fact, I wish we would do it again so we could correct some of the poor decisions of the first time around. Unlike building a house, life doesn’t give very many second chances. Whether or not you do it right the first time, you do it and live with the consequences.