Finish What You Start

What do these verses have in common?

Luke 14:28-30 "For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply [perhaps], after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish."

I Corinthians 12:23 "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."

Eight years ago, we bought a fairly large, well-built, 100 year old house. We could only afford it because it was so ugly. The previous owners did a lot of "remodeling" that was in very poor taste. Also, the kitchen was in the back of the house and had the appearance of a dungeon. When we bought the house, we had two children ages two and six months. Now we have five. I am not slothful, but I have a very hard time finishing what I start. There are a lot of projects started and only a few finished. The most problematic incompletion is the kitchen. It is functional, but it lacks cabinets and it looks really bad. It was started three and a half years ago. In those three and a half years, we have had two children with two difficult pregnancies, my wife got shingles twice, an elderly relative moved in for a few weeks, etc. etc. Most people would say that, with everything going on, it is justifiable not to have the kitchen and other projects completed. However, as the leader of my family, I should persevere and complete the projects. That is where I Corinthians 12:23 comes in. "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."The messier our house, the more chaos and confusion there is in it. If God is not the author of confusion, who is? Obviously, Satan is. Satan loves to cause problems in families. My disobedience to the Bible on what seems to be a small issue; starting a project without quickly finishing, is causing chaos, confusion, and consequently disobedience in my children.

While we should not make idols of our houses, they should be centers of hospitality and also the primary training ground for our children. These are much harder to accomplish when the house is in a state of upheaval.

Now that I realize that I have been sinful and disobedient to God's word, and my disobedience has caused problems in my family, I must ask God and my family to forgive me, and with God's help, do something to change. God giving me grace, I will work together with my family and persevere to complete the projects one at a time before starting another one. I need to count the cost and see if I have sufficient time and resources to finish what I start.