The Blueprints

For I know the plans I have for you…

—God

As any good construction company will tell you, “there’s no use in starting construction until the blueprints have been drawn.” If construction begins without blueprints, then the stability of the building will be in question. Although this is a simple concept, how many of us construct our lives without consulting God’s divine blueprints? Throughout the Old and New Testament, we see over and over again how the glory of God was always preceded by the implementation of order and structure given by God. From the creation account in Genesis, The Tabernacle of Moses in Exodus 26, to The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 to name a few, God always provides the blueprints, and we must build according to His pattern.

It has become painfully evident to me, even in my own life, that disorder always breeds dysfunction. In other words, there is no way you can properly function while living in a messy environment. I strive in my interactions with people, to look beyond the representative that they are exhibiting to the world, and instead look at the environment that they are creating and sustaining. Perfect looking people are not always living in houses that have been swept clean. If you look beyond all of the makeup and all of the cover up, you will see a lot of things that have been swept under the rug.

Disorder in the natural is an indication that there is some type of disorder going on in the spiritual and the longer you are in a relationship with a person, the more dirt you will encounter. That’s why I don’t judge people based on the way that they are presented when I first meet them, or how they present themselves in public. It’s also important for us to realize that just because a person looks like they have it all together on social media, does not mean that their life is in order. What I have experienced with the youth of today and with social media is this mentality that, “My life doesn’t have to be in order as long as people perceive that I have it all together. As long as I can make it look like, in a picture, that I am living this extravagant life and I can get so many people to like it then I’m all right.”

I recently heard on the radio that funeral homes are now renting out caskets to families of deceased loved ones. That way, you can be presented in the most exquisite casket and then buried in a plain wooden box. Has our superficiality come to this? Even in death, we actually feel the need to please others? I pray that God would give you a revelation of His grace. May you understand security in Jesus Christ and leave all the superficial, people-pleasing agendas behind.

Discussing wolves in sheep’s clothing, Jesus taught us in Matthew 7 to judge a tree by the fruit that it bears. Why do we automatically believe that people are who they present themselves to be online, and why then are we so shocked when a scandal comes out concerning them, or we hear that they went off of the deep end? I have learned that prosperity is not determined by how beautiful your tree is, but by the kind of fruit you have produced. It’s not about the kind of presentation