Mensa Otabil - Build Good Things
- Watch
- Donate
Welcome to a brand new week. This week, we’re going to look at the Book of Proverbs, specifically Proverbs Chapter 14. There are lessons we will learn about wisdom and the things we need to do to make our lives better and pleasing to the Lord. We start with Proverbs Chapter 14, verse one: «The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.»
This passage, or proverb, is talking about builders and destroyers. Although the focus is on a woman, the general lesson applies to both men and women, as well as young people. It addresses people who build and people who destroy.
The first thing we learn is that wise people build. The wise woman builds, and the wise man builds. Building takes a lot of effort; whether you’re building your life, your home, or a career, it requires hard work. Frequently in the Bible, people who build are described as wise. The building here goes beyond just the physical act of putting materials together. It also involves nurturing, care, and the effort required to create something lasting.
Building is not just about putting things up; it also includes maintaining what you have built. It’s very easy for a person to start something, but difficult to keep it working. It’s like marriage; it’s very easy to get married and have a wedding, but it takes wisdom to make it work, to sustain it, to maintain it. In whatever we do, the beginning is easy, but the building process is also a maintenance process.
A wise person doesn’t just start building things but also ensures they maintain what they have built. If we consider ourselves wise, then whatever we start or build, we must ensure that it is maintained.
The passage says that the foolish person pulls down everything with her hands. It’s very easy to tear things down. The easiest thing to do is to demolish something. Have you seen a demolition exercise? When a building that has taken probably six months, one year, or even more years to build is demolished in 30 minutes? It’s so easy to tear down, and that’s why it’s so easy to fight people, to criticize people, to destroy people. It’s the easiest part of life to sit aside, watch what people are doing, and the effort they’re making, then just tear it down.
It takes only a day to have a glamorous wedding, but it’s so easy to ruin everything afterward. So, what kind of person are you? Are you a builder or a destroyer? That’s a choice we have to make. However, God commands us to be builders.
Ensure that every day of your life, you’re building something: your life, your work, your family. Don’t just build things; maintain what you have built so that what you have constructed keeps standing year after year. That’s what God calls us to be: wise people who build things, not foolish people who tear down everything we have built. May the Lord give us the grace to be builders of lives and builders of good things.
Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, I want to be a builder. Help me nurture and grow everything You have given me. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.