Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Hebrews 3:4
From the spiral staircase to the expansive bedroom, from the hardwood floors to the plush carpeting, from the huge laundry room to the well-organized office, the realtor showed a potential home to the young couple. At every corner they turned, they raved about its beauty: “You’ve picked the best place for us. This house is amazing!” Then the realtor responded with something they thought a bit unusual yet true: “I’ll pass along your compliment to the builder. The one who built the house deserves the praise; not the house itself or the one who shows it off.”
The realtor’s words echo the writer of Hebrews: “The builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself” (3:3). The writer was comparing the faithfulness of Jesus, the Son of God, with the prophet Moses (vv. 1–6). Though Moses was privileged to speak to God face-to-face and to see His form (Numbers 12:8), he was still only “a servant” in the house of God (Hebrews 3:5). Christ as the Creator (1:2, 10) deserves honor as the divine “builder of everything” and as the Son “over God’s house” (3:4, 6). God’s house is His people.
When we serve God faithfully, it’s Jesus the divine builder who deserves the honor. Any praise we, God’s house, receive ultimately belongs to Him.
What has God built into you? What are unique ways you can give honor to Jesus if you’re complimented?
Jesus, You deserve all my praise. May my life and words give You that praise on this day.
For further study, read Going the Distance: Practices to Strengthen Your Faith.
INSIGHT
The reminder in Hebrews 3:4 that “God is the builder of everything” is reinforced in principle elsewhere in Scripture. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain,” we read in Psalm 127:1. Before their building initiative was abruptly terminated, the boast of the vain builders in Babel was, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). Before his humiliation, King Nebuchadnezzar said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). But afterwards, he “praised the Most High” and “honored and glorified him who lives forever” (v. 34).