The House That Marcus Didn't Build

Marcus Torres spent three years saving to renovate his father's crumbling barbershop on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. The ceiling tiles sagged. The plumbing groaned. Every Saturday, Marcus would walk through mentally redesigning the place — new chairs, better lighting, a proper sign out front. He wanted to honor the man who had cut hair in that same spot for forty-one years.

When Marcus finally presented his blueprints over Thanksgiving dinner, his father smiled and slid a manila envelope across the table. Inside were documents showing that Eduardo Torres had quietly purchased the entire building — not just the shop, but the three apartments above it — and placed everything in a family trust. "I don't need a new shop, mijo," his father said. "I need to know my grandchildren have something that lasts."

David had the same impulse. He looked at the Almighty dwelling in a tent while he lived in a cedar palace, and he thought, "Let me build something worthy of You." But God reversed the equation entirely. "I will establish a house for you," the Lord told David through Nathan. Not walls and rafters — a dynasty. A throne that would endure forever. A lineage carrying the promise of God from generation to generation until it reached its fulfillment in Christ.

We come to God with our renovation plans. He answers with a covenant. We offer blueprints. He hands us an inheritance we never imagined.