Giant Paper Airplane?

 

 

Yeah that would be pretty awesome.

 

I was never much good at making paper air planes myself, of course I never knew quite how either. Regardless, I made the attempts, often impatiently. Even if it did a nose dive after two seconds I would fling the thing for 30 minutes until the nose was bent with no hope of being straightened.

The biggest obstacle to a good paper airplane is getting the weight balance correct while maintaining lift from sufficient wing support. I didn’t want to put that much work into something that was supposed to be fun.

I guess a lot of us feel that way.

Life is supposed to be fun right? Well at least enjoyable. I just doesn’t seem right to have to put so much work into it. Seriously, can’t anything just be easy?

Yeah well, it takes a lot of work to build something, and even more to rebuild it once it is down. Building our lives for Christ, even in the simple things, is not an easy task. Rebuilding our lives around Christ is often painfully difficult. There is joy, but it is not easy and not always fun.

One thing you can count on though, you will face opposition. Even in rebuilding a house you will find people who will tell you it is a lost cause, a money pit, or that you will never finish. Opposition always finds a way to pop up around a Builder.

I don’t believe people like the idea of something being rebuilt. I think it makes people uncomfortable when someone brings something back to life. Look at the Phoenix, beauty from ashes; problem is we tend to shy away from the flame. So we in turn warn others not to play with the “fire” or we might just get “burnt”.

Nehemiah dealt with plenty of opposition when he undertook a rebuilding.

¹ When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ² and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
- Nehemiah 4:1-2 NIV

 

Sanballat was a person of influence and power in the area and he had friends. In fact the next few verses reveal how many friends he had. The minute word got out that Nehemiah had started rebuilding the wall opposition popped up.

Look at the language here, Sanballat was angry and greatly incensed. His culture hated the Jews, wished they no longer existed really. It brought them pleasure to see this great reminder of the God who had brought their nations under submission laying in a heap of rubble. The very idea of it’s restoration enraged him.

Anytime a reminder of God’s sovereignty and His glory is being built around the lost, the reaction will not be so different.

Sanballat’s response was to lash out with ridicule in an attempt to discourage the Builders. How many times have you heard it? “Your not strong enough.” “It is to hard for you.” “Your being naive to think it can happen.” “It is going to take way to long, you’ll give up before then.” “You think it is going to be like it was before?” “There is no hope.”

It all sounds fairly familiar to me. I think that, like most of the attempts, the discouragement also holds a key to the Builders hope. Look at the very last line.

Can the bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble- burned as they are?

Nope; but we serve a Master Builder whose record is well established and whose record is proven. We can’t, but we sure can be used by One who can.

 

Rebuilding our lives can take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a good bit of patience. We must remember that even though the voices of opposition rise up all around us, we serve The Author and The Finisher. He has never left His good work incomplete. It is his signature to draw beauty from ashes, so you don’t have to shy away from the flame.

Let Him make you a Phoenix and I can promise you will fly longer, higher, and with more grace than that 45 foot paper airplane.

 

And the awesome part? Eventually we are all promised rest…