House or Home
Illustration★★★★★Anyone can build an altar; it requires a God to provide the flame. Anybody can build a house; we need the Lord for the creation of a home. A house is an agglomeration of bricks and stones, with an assorted collection of manufactured goods; a home is the abiding-place of ardent affection, of fervent hope, of genial trust. There is many a homeless man who lives in a richly furnished house.
There is many a fifteen-pound house in the crowded street which is an illumi- nated and beautiful home. The sumptuously furnished house may only be an exquisitely sculptured tomb; the scantily furnished house may be the very hearthstone of the eternal God. Now the Christian religion claims to be able to convert houses into homes, to supply the missing fire, and to bring an aspir- ing flame to the cold and chilling heap. The New Testament does not say very much about homes; it says a great deal about the things that make them.
It speaks about life and love and joy and peace and rest! If we get a house and put these into it, we shall have secured a home.
The point
Anyone can build an altar but only God provides the flame; anyone can build a house but only God creates a home through love, hope, and trust—Christian faith transforms bricks into hearth and converts cold material into beautiful dwelling.