Now days if we want to build something, anything, or at least try, we immediately head to our local home improvement store; Lowe’s, Home Depot, or my new favorite, Menard’s. But if you’re building an eternal mansion, where does one go to purchase the building supplies needed for such a monumental task?
Jesus said He went away to prepare a place for us (John 14). Even as you read this, preparations for your anticipated arrival are being made. Every attention to detail is feverishly being paid. What are the materials, the building supplies, the nails, brick, mortar, and accouterments needed for the preparation of such a magnificent “mansion?”
I submit, what if the substance of our mansions consisted of the prayers we’ve prayed, the tears we’ve cried, the burdens we’ve carried, and the lives we’ve touched? What if the royalty and splendor of our mansions were proportional to the amount of our humility, generosity, charity, and love in this present life?
If God used a rough-hewn cross, rusty nails, and a crumpled mess of thorns as the building supplies of our great salvation, how great a mansion He must be preparing for us using the seemingly menial things of this life? Paul stated in Romans 8:18, “…the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
What if the royalty and splendor of our mansions were proportional to our amount of humility, generosity, charity, and love in this present life?
And in 1 Corinthians 1:27 – 30, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
And, Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 6:19 – 21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Like the old Capital One commercials used to ask, “What’s in YOUR wallet?” My question is, “What’s in YOUR mansion? Are you providing our Master Builder, The Great Framer of the Universe, with the adequate supplies needed to finish your mansion, or have you chosen rather to lay up for yourself treasures here, that will fade, rust, and wither?
Pastor Rodger Mangold
Serminutes - Sermon in a Minute 