From the spiral staircase to the expansive bedroom, from the hardwood floors to the plush carpeting, from the huge laundry room to the well-organised office, the estate agent showed a potential home to the young couple. At every corner they turned, they raved about its beauty: “This house is amazing!” Then the agent 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 agent’s words echo the writer of Hebrews: “The builder of a house has greater honour 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 honour 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 honour. Any praise we, God’s house, receive ultimately belongs to Him.
By Anne Cetas
REFLECT & PRAY
What has God built into you? What are unique ways you can give honour to Jesus if you’re complimented?
Jesus, You deserve all my praise. May my life and words give You that praise on this day.
SCRIPTURE 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 labour 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 “honoured and glorified him who lives forever” (v. 34).
Arthur Jackson
Our mission is to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.
