Building Up or Tearing Down

While driving the other day on the major highway that runs through town, I couldn’t help but to take exception to the changes in the business landscape over the past thirty plus years. Much of what used to be is gone and that which remains has either been surrounded into near obscurity or repurposed to serve a different aspect of everyday life. Very few places still hold true to there hometown roots serving the community as they did a generation ago. It’s amazing how long it takes for a new business building to be erected and opened to the public and yet it takes no time at all for the old to simply disappear. It seems with the snap of the fingers the local High School became a parking lot after it looked like it would take forever to build a replacement. A small tornado damaged a couple of favorite eateries, one an almost historic hamburger stand, and poof, one day they were gone. Spring and fall migrating birds are still coming through town, as they have for probably thousands of years, only to find less and less natural landscape to roast on, so cover the parking lots and power-lines after a lucky few find rest in the scarce amount of trees remaining; post-progress. I guess the old adage, “Out with the old; In with the new” will forever be, but I’ve seen some of the old is still better than the new.

[Ephesians 4: 29] Progress is the building up of what exists, not necessarily the show of total replacement with something new. It’s easy to demolish something. It doesn’t take much skill or wisdom to tear down. One doesn’t need to read a blueprint or give much attention to details. All it normally requires is brute force and power. When it comes to the matter of a Christian’s influence on others, the Bible is quite clear that we are not to be in the business of demolition, but edification; building up. “But,” one might argue, “Demolition is so easy.” And, it is! All it takes is a few power words like, “failure”, “hopeless”, “ugly”, “bad”, or “worthless”. There doesn’t have to be any affection or carefully measured words of encouragement. It takes only a few blows of the tongue, even in gossip, to become the sledgehammer blow that shatters a heart. Sometimes the Christian’s influence on others is most effective when one is silent; actions speaking louder than words. A big Marine sergeant was once asked the circumstances of his conversion to Christianity. He told of a private in his company who was frequently harassed by other soldiers for his religious faith. One night the private came into the barracks quit late. It was a very rainy night. Before getting into his bunk, he knelt, as was his custom, to pray. The sergeant said he picked up one of his own boots, heavy with wet mud, threw it across the room and hit the private in the side of the head. The private said nothing. He wiped the mud from his face and crawled into bed. The next morning, when the sergeant woke up, he found his boots clean and polished by his bedside. The sergeant said to the interviewer, “It broke my heart!” Turning the other cheek is not easy (Matthew 5: 38-42). The first inclination is to strike back, to get even, or to seek revenge. The route Jesus urges upon us is the behavior which is more likely to influence the other person for good. May we all give care to what we say and do! To tear down the spirit and worth of another takes no godliness at all. To batter down those already discouraged by troubles is about the easiest task one will ever find. On the other hand, to be a masterful builder of men, to inspire love and dedication to God in those we meet, is to be like Christ himself. Please pray for our country, our representatives, judicial and executive branches of government – and prepare to vote in November.