Chrysostom
Beloved
You bring your need for a house made by hands, but I would lift your eyes to the building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. If this earthly tent were dissolved, you have a far better home with the Lord. Yet He who creates from nothing can just as easily raise up what lies in ruins. To make a house where there was none is impossible with men, but with God all things are possible. So do not let the denial of men shake you as though God lacked power.
Consider Peter’s mother-in-law, burning with fever. He did not bring the Lord into his house the moment he saw need, but waited until the teaching ended and others were healed. He put the things of many before his own. Perhaps this delay tests whether you will honor God above your own comfort, whether you will walk by faith and not by sight. The Canaanite woman endured sharp words, even the name of a dog, yet she persisted, and the Lord granted her desire not to shame His mother who interceded, but to prove His freedom from every hour of need. So cry out with humility and patience. He hears the voice of earnest entreaty, but He trains us through waiting.
I urge you also to guard your heart at home. When the house is in chaos, the tongue is easily tempted to swear or to lash out at wife or children. Yet from love springs soberness, and all contention is done away. A wife who honors her husband cares well for the home, and a husband who loves her will not let frustration overflow. If your house is to be rebuilt, let your household first be built on patience and reverence. A well-ordered domestic life leaves room for spiritual things; without it, even spiritual things suffer shipwreck.
Do not think these trials are without purpose. The apostle reminds us that some were mocked and scourged, imprisoned and stoned, all for the same cause as you now bear: the distresses of this present life. Such examples console us when the affliction is from a common source. You are not alone in feeling the pinch of earthly loss. Therefore, be of good courage. Willing to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord means treating this temporary ruin as light affliction, preparing for an eternal weight of glory.
Yet I do not say this to make light of your need. I join my prayer to yours, asking the Father who knows your need before you speak to move the heart of the insurance company, that the claim might be paid and your habitation restored. But more than silver and gold, I ask that you may learn to possess nothing as if you owned it, and to hold every earthly good with a loose hand. If He grants the reversal, offer thanksgiving and use the house for hospitality and prayer. If He delays, trust that He is building something greater within your soul. The same Lord who filled the widow’s flour jar and multiplied the loaves will supply your lack not according to your anxious plans, but according to His riches in glory.
Examine also your conscience, whether any sin has made a breach in your wall of divine protection. I do not say this to wound you, but to lead you to confession and amendment. He who heals the soul often heals the body and the household together. So begin at home with the little things: curb the tongue, keep sober, practice the one letter of patience when provoked. Then you will have power to abide unconquered in the public square of your trial.
Walk by faith, not by sight, until the day when you shall say, “The earthly house was dissolved, and now I have the eternal dwelling.” Until then, let your heart not be troubled. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would He have told you He goes to prepare a place?
Consider Peter’s mother-in-law, burning with fever. He did not bring the Lord into his house the moment he saw need, but waited until the teaching ended and others were healed. He put the things of many before his own. Perhaps this delay tests whether you will honor God above your own comfort, whether you will walk by faith and not by sight. The Canaanite woman endured sharp words, even the name of a dog, yet she persisted, and the Lord granted her desire not to shame His mother who interceded, but to prove His freedom from every hour of need. So cry out with humility and patience. He hears the voice of earnest entreaty, but He trains us through waiting.
I urge you also to guard your heart at home. When the house is in chaos, the tongue is easily tempted to swear or to lash out at wife or children. Yet from love springs soberness, and all contention is done away. A wife who honors her husband cares well for the home, and a husband who loves her will not let frustration overflow. If your house is to be rebuilt, let your household first be built on patience and reverence. A well-ordered domestic life leaves room for spiritual things; without it, even spiritual things suffer shipwreck.
Do not think these trials are without purpose. The apostle reminds us that some were mocked and scourged, imprisoned and stoned, all for the same cause as you now bear: the distresses of this present life. Such examples console us when the affliction is from a common source. You are not alone in feeling the pinch of earthly loss. Therefore, be of good courage. Willing to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord means treating this temporary ruin as light affliction, preparing for an eternal weight of glory.
Yet I do not say this to make light of your need. I join my prayer to yours, asking the Father who knows your need before you speak to move the heart of the insurance company, that the claim might be paid and your habitation restored. But more than silver and gold, I ask that you may learn to possess nothing as if you owned it, and to hold every earthly good with a loose hand. If He grants the reversal, offer thanksgiving and use the house for hospitality and prayer. If He delays, trust that He is building something greater within your soul. The same Lord who filled the widow’s flour jar and multiplied the loaves will supply your lack not according to your anxious plans, but according to His riches in glory.
Examine also your conscience, whether any sin has made a breach in your wall of divine protection. I do not say this to wound you, but to lead you to confession and amendment. He who heals the soul often heals the body and the household together. So begin at home with the little things: curb the tongue, keep sober, practice the one letter of patience when provoked. Then you will have power to abide unconquered in the public square of your trial.
Walk by faith, not by sight, until the day when you shall say, “The earthly house was dissolved, and now I have the eternal dwelling.” Until then, let your heart not be troubled. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would He have told you He goes to prepare a place?
