No wonder the housing market sucks...

I recently heard a story that happened in a city near my hometown. A man owned a piece of land that he had plans of building on later. For years and years, he never built anything on this land and it just sat there unused. It wasn’t long before a group of squatters came and seized the land and constructed a house on the property. The goal of the squatters was to set up a scam with a fake real estate property. They built the house to where it looked beautiful on the outside and even furnished a few “show rooms.” When potential clients came to look at the house, they were impressed with the building company and gave them their business. The scam worked and soon the entire neighborhood had been sold. However, as beautiful as the house was, it was very poorly built and most of the rooms were not even finished, much less furnished. The men had to continually remodel the show rooms to stay with the latest trends and the old materials were simply discarded in the spare rooms, creating a lot of junk. The idea of building on someone else’s land was simple. If the men’s scam was ever found out, all of the legal property papers traced back to the true owner and he looked responsible. Well one day, the man decided it was finally time to build on his property but when he drove out, he saw that someone else had built on his own land! As outraged as the man was, he was surprisingly level headed about the whole ordeal. He posed as a client that was interested in giving this “real estate company” his business. When he had made contact and seen the condition of the house, he sprang the truth of whom he really was. Instead of threatening to call the police, he offered to re-buy his own property! Apparently, the property itself meant a lot to him because it had originally belonged to his father and he simply wanted it back. Although the exact value he paid was unknown, it is reported as extremely high. With the men gone, the man was left with his property and a poorly constructed house. The story gets even weirder. Instead of contracting a company to demolish and rebuild on his property, the man does it all himself. He spends months going through the rooms and assessing the damage that was done. He never broke down a door, but instead waited patiently as keys were finally shipped to him. Once he had access to the room, he cleaned it out entirely. It was an insane Spring-cleaning project. Once he had finished with this, he tore down the entire house to the foundation. But he didn’t stop there. He even brought some materials in and tore of the foundation, which of course had been poorly laid. Once he was finally left with his original property, he spent even more resources on building the house that he had always wanted. He laid a firm foundation, built solid walls, carefully designed each room for a purpose, landscaped the entire yard to match the beauty of the house, and sealed the entire house to try and prevent damage. Once he had spent the years demolishing and restoring his property, he didn’t move back from where he had come but instead stayed in the house and did on-site maintenance whenever it was needed. His eventual goal was to purchase the entire neighborhood, which had originally belonged to his family as well, and build similar houses on each property to present it as a gift to his father. He is still working on this project, and as remarkable as the story is, the people that own the property in his neighborhood are unwilling to sell and give up their poorly constructed houses.

This is a story that many of you have heard before, just in a different context. Originally, we all belonged to God. He has had plans for us from the beginning but Satan has been attempting to steal us from Him. Satan has built poor constructed lives out of each of us that while may seem happy, are simply show rooms that are constantly seeking true fulfillment. But, God has not forgotten us and He came to us Himself and paid the price for us, which is something more than we will ever be able to conceive… the blood of his Own. Satan’s plan if his poor craftsmanship is ever discovered is essentially the same. He points back to the fact that God is the true owner of us and our crimes are a reflection of Him and His church. Once God has repurchased our lives, His work does not end. He goes through and assesses the damage that we have done to His work. He doesn’t break down doors, but instead stands outside and knocks until we let Him in. Once He has repaired what was broken, he replaces our foundation with Him and builds from there. His ultimate goal is to build this type of life for every one of us, yet we still hold to the poorly constructed lives of our own and maintain ownership. Some of the neighborhood names may change and each may not have the same view, but the stories are essentially the same.

Just something to think about.

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against hat house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell , and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell --and great was its fall."
-Matthew 7:24-27