Day 53 - Blueprints

Reading: Romans 15:4-7
Reflective Thoughts
Blueprints
One of the things we inherited with our purchase of a 1929 bungalow was the original blueprints. The house was remodeled by the previous owners, and the blueprints have been helpful for us to see what the vision of the original builder was-why it worked then and why some of the remodeling that was done doesn't work so well now. Someone didn't follow the plan.
When Paul, in the previous verses exhorts the church to imitate Christ, he directs it to God's blueprint for the Body of Christ-the Scriptures themselves. They have endured. They are meant to encourage us. They map out the plan that enables us to be of "one mind" according to the Master Builder, whose "House" is comprised of each of us. On the basis of Scripture Paul tells us to receive one another-even as each brick of a home receives the support and weight of the others to make a sturdy structure. It works when you follow the blueprints.