Home improvements...a harvest of righteousness?

For the past week or so, I’ve been up to my elbows in household projects. We installed a new kitchen sink and faucet, painted our den and master bedroom, moved some furniture and made various much needed and overdue repairs. We’re still not done yet; our list is long, but we’re tackling it item by item.

By far the most rewarding of these projects has been the new kitchen sink and faucet. The old fixture was leaking badly and the sink was dingy and chipped. While the end result has been wonderful, the process was more than frustrating. Removal of the old sink was tiresome and required much patience. The installation was almost maddening as trip after trip to the home improvement stored proved futile. No matter what combination of fittings or plumbing kits we tried, they just didn’t fit. Finally, we brought in the big guns. We called a plumber.

Two ideas spring forth as I think back on the activities and emotions of the past week. The first is this: the one thing I needed most was probably what I lacked most-patience. And probably the biggest obstacle to asking for help is pride, or wanting the sense of accomplishment for one’s self. When it comes down to it, does it matter who finished the job, or can you just be satisfied with its completion? Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, the end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. (NIV) This has never been truer for me. The end is our beautiful, new sink and faucet; and patience definitely proved better than pride, especially when we were finally forced to call our friend for help.

Galatians 5:22-23 says, …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (NIV) If these are fruits of the Spirit, then wouldn’t it be true that those of us who are filled with the Spirit exhibit these fruits in our daily lives? This is not always the case in our most private moments or in those situations that try our patience most. Each of us has something that pushes our buttons and turns us into something less than gracious and peaceful. It is in these moments that we must make the deliberate choice to be spirit-filled, asking the Lord for an additional measure of grace. Matthew Henry wrote in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, The meaning of the exhortation [be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 (NIV)] is that men should labour for a plentiful measure of the graces of the Spirit, that would fill their souls with great joy, strength, and courage.[i] Jesus taught in John 15:4, Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (NIV) If we are to bear the fruit of patience in our lives, we must remain in constant companionship with Jesus.

Secondly, and here is the real treasure for me this week, 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, …for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (NIV) Trials come in all shapes and sizes, and all are used to shape and refine us into the men and women that God wants us to become, no matter how small. Hebrews 12:7-11 tells us to Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV)

You may be thinking it audacious of me to correlate my frustration with installing a new kitchen sink to the hardship that Paul speaks of in Hebrews, but I would suggest that any trial that the Lord allows in our lives, if surrendered to Jesus, could be used to discipline us and could become a source of great growth. If we can learn to suffer grief in all kinds of trials with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then we may be proved, through our actions, to be genuine in faith and produce a harvest of righteousness.

The beginning may be broken and unattractive, but no matter the trial, if we endure the discipline of the Father, the end is the same… praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. And in this process called sanctification, patience is key and pride will only get in the way.

[i] Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)