Lessons from Mixing Mortar

This weekend I was helping some friends rebuild a rock wall. When we went to get the pre-mixed mortar, the hardware store only had mortar and sand left. So we ended up buying both and mixed them on site.

It turned out that I actually liked working with the unmixed mortar and sand more then the premix mortar. Later, I started to read and think about scriptures in the bible and how we mixed the ingredients for mortar.

When mixing mortar you use one part mortar and three parts sand but even though there is more sand then mortar – the mortar had no problem covering and mixing throughout the entire batch of mortar mixture.

This is the scripture that came to mind:
In Mathew 13:33 Jesus used this illustration: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast used by a woman making bread. Even though she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough."

That is precisely what happened in the mortar mixture.

Then when we added water to the sand and mortar mixture, the batch got smaller so we were able to add more sand and mortar into the mixing tub.

Luke 6:38 “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving-large or small- it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”

Again the same principle happened as the scripture.

When mixing mortar you need, of course, three elements. You need mortar and sand and water. When I think about mortar and sand I think about love and knowledge. When I think of water – I think of the Holy Spirit.

Col 3:14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.

We can have the love and knowledge that God is continually mixing within us but we need the Holy Spirit to bind it all together so we can build off that love and knowledge that God has given us- “properly”.

1Th 1:5 For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message.

The Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. It bonded the actions of love and knowledge together where they could be built on to and they stuck in people’s mind and heart.

Gal 5:22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

Phl 1:9 I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding.

God had given us all an awesome opportunity to make us His vessels. He is the one who poured HIS love and knowledge into us -when we gave our lives to Christ and when we received Christ we also received the Holy Spirit which is continuing to add living water – living and working concepts and ideas and power to the love and knowledge we continually gain from God as we have fellowship with Him and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Isa 64:8 And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand.

Eph 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Our work, we do or intend to do for God is only useful when the love, knowledge and guidance of the Holy Spirit are bonded together in it.

In time the rock wall work we did is going to be put through the test of time and weather conditions. And like that wall, our efforts here on earth will be tested. If we have listened to the wrong spirit and used only human understanding and human understanding and methods of love that wall is going to have enormous problems.

1Cr 3:13 But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value.

Luke 6:48 It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who listens and doesn't obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins.

If the rock wall we have rebuilt this last weekend isn’t firmly standing on a foundation, it will fall over and break in time and be destroyed just like our lives if we are not standing on the foundation of Jesus Christ because through and on Christ Jesus every life can be rebuild and build upon.

John 14:6 Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. “

Through the Father who gives us the Holy Spirit- Who gives us new life in our time here on earth and eternal life in Heaven.

All would not be possible without the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins on the cross and his resurrection.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all work as one and are one and they do not want to see anyone perish. John 3:16-20

Remember live in the love and knowledge you have been given by God and listen to the Holy Spirit’s guiding in every life you touch.

Scriptures came from the New Living Translation Bible