Under Construction

by Andrew Phillips

Be honest. With all the construction taking place both in Mount Juliet and on the Interstate lately, you've been frustrated at least once. You've been in a hurry and had to stop to wait in a long line that seemed to crawl through a construction area. You've been late for an important appointment, and you arrived even later because construction equipment was blocking your path. If you're like me, these incidents can be annoying, and if you're not careful, they can set a negative tone for the day. Construction isn't always exciting.
While we're sitting in traffic, staring at the taillights in front of us, it is difficult to see the most important aspect of construction work - the end result. It is easy to forget that once the work is completed, life will be easier for us. Roads will be smoother, and traffic will be easier to bear, but that is hard to remember, because construction isn't always exciting.
Construction isn't exciting, but growth is. Have you ever noticed that growth can't take place without construction? Streets are widened to accommodate more traffic, and roads are re-paved because they are well-traveled. In our Christian lives, construction isn't always exciting. When we try to grow deeper spiritually, we often run into roadblocks. Breaking old, sinful habits is often a painfully slow process. Devoting ourselves to quality prayer time is challenging, filled with the detours and distractions of our hectic lives. The author of Hebrews knew about the challenges of spiritual construction. Hebrews 12:11 describes the hardships we face in our Christian lives as "discipline" that yields "the peaceful fruit of righteousness." We'd love to speed through the construction phase, but it isn't possible.
Have you felt stuck in a spiritual "construction" phase lately? Are you frustrated by the difficulty of cultivating spiritual development? Does it seem like no matter how hard you work to improve your walk with God, traffic isn't moving and nothing is happening? There's a reason - growth is occurring. Construction isn't always exciting, but growth is, and spiritual growth is the most exciting growth of all. Are you under construction?

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