New Windows

On the same walk where I found the “scissor” I mentioned in yesterday’s post I passed by a fixer-upper. Actually, not sure that quite captures what it was I saw. You can see for yourself in the picture above, it just gets worse the longer you look at it. In the walk down the sidewalk, I could see inside at several angles just how bad it was. There was nothing to stop me from getting closer and getting a quick video or better pictures, but I could almost smell the tetanus shot waiting for me if I had.

What caught my attention wasn’t the vines crawling up half finished walls or the condition of the roof. I’ve seen busted up houses before. We’ve all driven by abandoned homes in the country where the whole thing has leaned to the point where it’s only debris holding up the roof. What caught my attention was the relatively new looking door and the single front window with its manufacturer’s sticker still on it, though faded to a white rectangle by the Tennessee sunshine.

I couldn’t help but imagine the story this place had to tell. Was it already the skeleton it is today when a new owner decided to get to work on it? They looked around and thought, “Where to begin?” And that was when they realized there was a draft from the door, and that old window was just a single pane.

I wonder how they felt when they stepped back and saw the result of their work. “Ah, now that is a nearly finished house. A fresh coat of paint and we’ll be all set.”

The first verse to come to mind was from a moment in Luke:

Luke 14:28-30 CSB

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finishes it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.”

Well, here I was, ridiculing this strange “home” with half its walls but a fancy door. However this place got into this state, there was either poor planning or unforeseen circumstances that stopped it in its tracks. And instead of doing the work of preparing the unfinished walls, waterproofing the work site, patching the holes in the roof, they installed a new window.

Ah, but here is where reflection always comes back to bite. I felt the Lord challenge me on the history of my life. Is it possible that there were places in my life where I had put a great deal of effort into a “window” while the siding lay in a pile? Where the holes in the roof made the fancy new door look out of place? Where I had done work to try to appear ok, while my internal structure was falling down around me?

This picture was shared by Jesus during a time when the crowds were starting to grow. When he noticed the number of people following, he turns and in essence tells them that if they want to be his disciples, everything else is second place by a mile. That unless we are ready to take up our own cross, we just can’t follow him as we must. In essence the question is, do you trust me enough that if I called you to lay down your life for the sake of me or others, you would do it?

If no, then you are like the builder that started the project only to realize later the cost was too high.

Let me take note of something here. Jesus welcomed people where they were. The woman at the well, the tax collectors in Matthew’s house, or Peter after his denials. In every case, the invitation is always to come and discover that trust. Chapter 14 starts as a challenge to the religious who thought they had all the building materials they needed. It’s worth noting that the beginning of chapter 15, right after these strong words we have this:

Luke 15:1-2 CSB

All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Which prompts three of my favorite stories that Jesus tells. A shepherd with a lost sheep, a woman with a lost coin, and a father desperate to see his lost son flow one from the other.

Those who should have understood the cost of building seemed to understand the least. The cost of care, of sacrifice, of humility was too high for them to be able to fit in the same space with those who weren’t “up to scratch”. What made Jesus absolutely qualified to make this demand of those who would be his disciples was that he not only knew the cost, but would pay it. In ways throughout his ministry, his love for those God desired to reconcile came at a cost. Ultimately, we would take up his cross, laying down his life to reconcile even those who wouldn’t pay the price themselves to the father searching for the lost child.

Not sure that house was fixable. Sometimes we need to tear down broken things in order to build up what will last. As someone prone to fix the window while there is a hole in the wall, I need the reminder to go back to the foundation. I want to make sure whatever I build, I build on the foundation Christ laid first. Mercy. Grace. Sacrifice. Trust in God’s promises for those who are willing to follow Him.

I’d much rather be in the group approaching Jesus to listen, than the gathered coming to complain.