106. Don’t Destroy; Build — Aneel Aranha

Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today, we will talk about how we should be builders instead of destroyers. 

When the World Trade Center's Twin Towers opened to the public in 1973, they were the tallest buildings in the world. They took 14 years to build at the cost of more than $1 billion. On September 11, 2001, two planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the buildings, and in less than two hours, both towers were reduced to rubble. It is so easy to destroy what has been so hard to build.

Of course, the terrorists had their reasons, and to them, they were good ones. They thought they were doing the right thing. The people who killed Jesus also believed they were doing the right thing. Caiaphas, who was a high priest that year, said, "It is better for one man to die than to have the whole nation destroyed" (see John 11:49-50). All the other priests and leaders agreed. 

When *we* seek to destroy, we have our reasons too. We can justify them to all who ask. And we will be able to do so well because we have rationalized it so cleverly. However, we need to take a page from God's book. If anyone truly has reason to destroy, it is God. For centuries of rebellion, he had justification for smashing us with his mighty fist. Instead, he sent his Son to be broken so we could be repaired. He is a builder, not a destroyer, and as people who are created in his image and likeness, we should be builders, too. Or rebuilders.

The world is broken. People are broken. *We* are broken! We cannot fix everything, but with God's help, we can set a few things right. We can ask God to rebuild what is broken in our countries, giving its leaders the wisdom not to enter into senseless wars as is happening around Ukraine now. We can ask God to rebuild the people we have hurt over the years, restoring their honor and dignity. We can ask God to rebuild our families, healing the wounds that years of neglect or abuse have caused. 

And while we are in restoration mode, we can ask God to rebuild us. We can find the glue to put us back together in Scripture, where we will learn how to find rest for our weary, sinful souls, discover how to be content in every situation, and how to live in peace with our brothers and sisters. And as the psalmist declares, we will soon be "like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that we do, we will prosper" (see Psalm 1).
 
God bless you.