Symbol: House
built with bricks
Lesson: Like
a house built of bricks, building strong relationships takes time.
Illustration:
Strong, enduring relationships are built over time. They do not happen
instantly. It is something like building a home with bricks. Each brick is one
more experience in the relationship that makes it solid and binding. One brick
does not build a home, neither does one encounter build a relationship. Many
bricks, carefully laid alongside and on top of each other, filled with mortar
(the “glue” that binds the bricks together), can over time build protection to
weather against any storm. Reinforcing those bricks with rods makes the
structure stronger still. In relationships, the mortar is love and respect. The
rods of stable and mature personalities add to the relationship.
Now, applying all this to our
relationship with our Creator, we can see how impossible it is to expect God to
accept foxhole Christians. They just haven’t made any attempt to build a
relationship. God will not save a relationship that never existed. If a person
never valued God enough to get to know Him before, what evidence does God have
that the person will really remain loyal in the future? If you were in a
friendship or some other close-tie relationship with a person that dismissively
ignored you and treated you as unimportant, would you be inclined to help that person?
Now, if that same person came to you crying for urgent help and promising
loyalty and love, would you believe his words?
Notes: n/a
