House Hunting With God

Part I: Build Your House On The Rock (And I'm Not Talking Prudential)

by Nick Popadich

With mortgage rates so low, now is a great time to buy a house. But there's a lot to consider! Is the main structure of the house solid? Is the location just right? Just considering these two qualifications, few houses meet my needs. But then I thought for a moment: do I fit these specifications? They say home is where the heart is. Come house hunting with God and see where your heart is.

Advice from a Carpenter

Perhaps Jesus' most famous line about finding the right house was when he told the crowds to build a house on rock and not on sand. While I saw little sand and mostly concrete as I drove by homes, I realized what Jesus meant.

If our foundations aren't strong, we will crumble. When Jesus spoke this message to the crowd it was about hearing the word of God. Those who heard and did something about it built their houses on rock and the fools who heard and forgot built their houses on sand.

We need to be those people who get out there and do something. People need to experience God firsthand in our energy, compassion, and selflessness. The people on the rock are mobile. They are able to reach out to those who have lost hope. Being a person on the rock means literally "building" the kingdom of God on earth. Not a bad idea.

Location, Location, Location

Location is usually a top priority to consider when looking for a house. After all, even a nice house won't be worth much in a few years if it's in a bad location.

While looking for houses, I stopped for a minute to think about my spiritual location. By this I'm not suggesting that you pitch a tent next to your church's Eucharistic adoration chapel and call that home. No, spiritual location is much deeper. How close are you to God? And again, I don't mean how much do you pray or adore God. The perfect example of being near to God comes from the book of Job.

Get a Job!

Job's life is thrown into upheaval. He loses all that is dear to him. His friends -- and the "wisdom of the faithful" at the time -- believed that Job's bad fortune was a result of something he had done. But Job longs to see God face to face for he knows that he has done nothing to upset God. Job finally sees God. God in a whirlwind shows Job all the wonders of creation and all the glory and glamour of nature. At the end of the story Job says, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."

Job says he had "heard" God. Namely, he had heard what others had said about God. He had heard the rules and stipulations set up by others about how God works, what God does, and whom God likes. But he had never truly experienced God for himself.

Professor Marcus Borg uses William James' concept of secondhand and firsthand religion to teach what Job went through. Secondhand religion is what we get from our parents. Firsthand religion is when we make our faith our own. Job went from blindly following rules to truly realizing the awesome nature of God.

We too need to change our spiritual location. Do we truly understand our faith and why we do things? If we don't, we should find out. The more we make what we do real, the more real God is going to be in our lives. Going through the motions can lead to very empty feelings.

Also, Job learned that God wasn't just at church. Do we see God in nature? Do we see God in other people? I can't think of a more firsthand opportunity.

King of the Road

Well, I still haven't found that perfect house. But, then again, I'm far from a perfect person. The early Christians called their movement "The Way." It was on "the way" that people met Christ. It was on "the way" that he healed them. It was on "the way" that they picked up their mats and followed him.

As we travel down "the way" of our lives, let us never forget that it is by us and our solid structures that others will be given hope. It is by us and our realization that God is as close to us as the person next to us, that more people will change their locations and truly "see" God.

Life Applications:

What can you do to reach out to those people who have lost hope and built their house on sand?

What can you do to make your faith real for you and practice it in a way that is meaningful and sincere?

When have you felt closest to God? When has God seemed most distant?

Copyright 2002 by Nick Popadich
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