Call the Plumber

We’re in the very early stages of building a house so fixtures and faucets seem to always be dancing at the forefront of my brain. And the money. Oh wow, the money.

I got to thinking yesterday, “What if we spend all of this money and something crazy happens like the builders forget to get the house plumbed out…” I began to imagine walking into this beautiful home that we had waited and worked so long for, making the last walk-through before we move in, reaching for the sink and – nothing. I try the other valve – nothing.

I snapped out of the intrusive thought before it could totally take hold of me as another one began to tip-toe across my mind. That’ll preach. The familiar phrase seemed to reach out and tap me on the shoulder in my sweet Mawmaw’s voice. If you’re a long-time AFR listener, you may have read it in Kandi Anderson’s undeniably spunky southern twang too.

As believers, if we aren’t careful we sure can look the part. We can have all the pieces put together, all the gold faucets and shiny, matching hardware in the right spot, but if we aren’t hooked up to the source, if we aren’t tapped into the water supply how could we ever expect it to flow?

Going to church, and as we like to say in the South, being there “every time the doors are open” is easy. Posting Scripture to social media is easy. Knowing the “lingo” and talking the part is easy. Building a beautiful shell is easy. Strategically staging every room, picking out the perfect paint color, the immaculate granite countertops – it’s all easy.

Psalm 127:1 tells us, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” We can plan and build and stage and decorate and fine-tune the details all we want, but unless our foundation is firm and our plumbing is plumbed, we might as well live in the woods.

Jesus is the source of everything; our life, our faith, our joy, and He is a good supply. Scripture states it very plainly:

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing … (John 15:4-5).

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:16).

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen (Romans 11:36).

Is your house plumbed out? Are your pipes tapped in? Do your insides reflect your outsides? If someone turned on a sink in your “house” would there be water?

If your answer to any of these is anything besides 'Yes!' I think it’s time to call your Plumber.