Painting

In the past few months the owners of my apartment complex have spent quite a bit of money to make the place look much better. They have had all the buildings painted, they have had all the trees and brush trimmed, they are planning on having the parking lot resurfaced. The manager said that they were going to buy all new appliances, but that will happen slowly. My building has been painted and looks much better. It was a little annoying as the workers worked preparing the building for painting, caulking, sanding, preparing the metal stairway rails and supports with a primer...........But today I look at the finished product, and it looks very nice. A new roof was done about a year ago. I have just signed a new lease, last week, and of course the rent went up, I expected it with all the money they were spending on the property.
The other day I talked to an inspector type guy who was inspecting the apartment across from mine. This apartment has been empty for quite a while, because the floor had started to sink so bad, the sheet rock on the apartment below, also empty, had started to crack and fall onto the floor. The inspector told me as we talked that when they had made these apartments, they had used "heavy" concrete instead of "light weight" concrete, because it is cheaper. He pointed out how much the floor rose at the entrance to the apartment, (about one inch, he said it would be about 1/4 of an inch if "light weight" concrete had been used). So I asked him how long would it be before the floor gave way to the weight of this concrete and all of them crumbled. "Well", he said, " This place was built in 1989 and it is just now starting to show, so who knows?" That didn't make me feel much better, but all of a sudden the paint job wasn't so pretty.
You know those TV reality shows about makeovers, or losing weight, or stuff like that? I am not into reality shows at all, but I see the commercials and hear others talking about them. These shows concentrate on the outward appearance of people, and try and help them change, while at the same time hoping we will watch the progress. There are the shows about remodeling someones kitchen or complete home. ( "Move that truck") But once again the outward appearance is all they concentrate on.
With my apartment, they really made the place look much better, in hopes of attracting more residents, and keeping us that already lived there. It has worked, to some extinct, I have seen more U Haul trucks with people moving in much more lately. But there is a dinosaur in the room, the floors/ceilings of many of these if not all of these, apartments, will someday start to crumble under the weight of the concrete.
What is more important, the look of something, or how it is made. My Ex-wife and I years ago had a brand new Chevrolet Cavalier coupe. Great car for 3 years. Then less then 100 miles after the warranty expired, the camshaft decided to bend, but not break, either way a Very expensive fix. We appealed to General Motors, I mean it was less then 100 miles over warranty. But they turned us down. With advice from our mechanic friend, he fixed it as cheaply as possible, and we traded it in. I felt bad, because someone would buy this as a used car, thinking it would last a while, but, according to our mechanic, there was no telling how long the "fix" would last.(That is why he suggested we get rid of it.)
I have never or will never buy a GM product for that and other reasons. Why, I feel they let me down, with cruddy workmanship, and they would not stand behind it.
Have you ever gone to church, just to make yourself feel better? To be seen? Because it was "Tradition" in your family? If so your more worried about outward appearance then what is on the inside, where it gets "Real".
There is a Comedian who is a christian and he tells a joke about hoping the people in his church don't judge him because he doesn't drop anything in the offering plate. His church offers On line giving, which he participates in, thereby not being seen giving anything. This is all done in fun, but it leads to a good question: "Why do we give, why do we go to church, why do we say, raise our hands in worship? Is it because we love our God so much, we want to praise Him, Honor Him obey Him, or is it because we want to be seen as a "Good Person"?
Are we painting our exterior, but ignoring the "heavy" concrete that may cause our floors to crumble and come crashing down?
2 Timothy 2:19:
"But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.”
There it is: "Truth is our foundation", not just any truth, but God's truth. Stop worrying about your outward appearance
so much, give your life, Your whole life, to God, and let Him fix it. He may have to tear the whole thing down, and start over, but that is OK, He has done it many times before, and He knows exactly what He is doing. Talk about references!!!
When our foundation is solid on the Truths of God, then there is nothing to worry about. Losing a little weight, or a lot, getting a haircut, wearing make up, working out to stay or get healthy, these things are fine, but when we concentrate on our appearance more then our relationship with God, and try our best to "Look" like were fine inside, this is wrong.
My Mom used to tell me "Don't worry about what other people think of you, I love you for who you are, and God made you for that. He will guide you, not People" She was right, The master re builder is in change of this project, regardless of how big the project is. He has the blue prints of our life and He is following them to the letter. You can get a glimpse of these blue prints just check out His word. Hey here is an idea, why not read His word more, and get an insight into how our inner self needs to be refreshed, remodeled,remade,...........
But don't worry, the master re-modeler will do it right the first time. No one but us can mess it up, and if we do He is available to come back and fix it again. He doesn't mind.