The Strength of What Is Unseen

Next time you are relaxing in your living room or standing in your kitchen, just look up and ask yourself:

What is holding up my roof?

Unless you are married to a construction man like I am, or you have ever walked through a building project while it was still in progress, you may never stop to think about the structure above your ceiling. But believe me when I say, it is what is unseen above the ceiling and beneath the roof that matters most.

Whether you live in a single-family home, an apartment, a motel, or a multi-family building, there is a good chance a truss is above your head right now. It is the unseen hard worker that gets very little attention once it is in place.

Yet the truss has a very important role.

Let me explain.

A truss is built in a triangular shape. It is made of wood, joined together with steel plates and braces. Several pieces of wood are carefully cut and fastened into angles, then secured with metal plates pressed tightly into each joint to keep the entire truss straight and strong.

Each truss has two load-bearing points. The highest point rises in the center, but the weight is carried at the ends. It is designed to hold the roof steady and help keep the walls straight.

But here is the interesting thing: one truss alone cannot do much.

It only becomes strong when it is connected to other trusses. They are braced together, each one supporting the next, until the entire roof system is formed. Only then are the roof boards and shingles added—the part everyone sees from the

outside.

Yet even the trusses themselves depend on something else.

They must rest on walls, and those walls must stand on a solid foundation. From the foundation to the shingles, every piece of the house depends on the others doing the work they were created to do.

And isn’t that exactly how the Christian life works? One Christian alone cannot complete the work God has designed for His Kingdom.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. We were never meant to stand isolated.

God never intended us to carry Kingdom work alone. Just like the trusses must be joined together to hold the roof, believers are strengthened when they stand side by side.

A truss may stand tall in the center, but it is the points on either side that bear the weight. In the same way, we may stand boldly for Christ, but we need faithful believers on both sides of us to help carry the load.

One truss connected to the next becomes stronger. A full frame of trusses can support an entire roof. As believers, when we are joined together in Christ, we become strong enough to help carry the work of ministry.

The truss must sit on a wall, and the wall must rest on a foundation. We, too, stand on the faithful work of those who have gone before us—the prayers they prayed, the churches they built, the truth they passed down, and the faithfulness they modeled.

1 Corinthians 3:11

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Every wall, every truss, and every part of the house must begin with a sure foundation. In the Christian life, that foundation is Jesus Christ Himself.

And then there is this lesson I love most.

Eventually, the truss becomes unseen.

No one admires it once the drywall goes up. No one comments on it once the shingles are laid. Yet its work has not become less important simply because it is hidden.

So it is with much of Christian service.

Sometimes we are called to help raise something up—a ministry, a family, a church, a younger believer, a work for the Kingdom. Later, others may come and build on what we started. Our part may no longer be visible, but that does not make it less valuable.

Hidden does not mean unimportant.

Galatians 6:9

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Much of the most important Kingdom work is unseen by human eyes, but heaven never overlooks faithfulness.

Faithful work done for the glory of the Lord is never wasted, even when no one sees it anymore.

And though the truss stands tall, tucked away from the sunlight and hidden from view, it still needs inspection from time to time. Builders check for cracks, weak joints, or places that have loosened.

As Christians who have walked with the Lord for many years, we must do the same.

We need regular heart inspections.

Are there cracks forming in our love for the Lord? Are there weak places in our faith? Have the pressures of life loosened our joy, our obedience, or our compassion for others? Has an unforgiveness settled in, bitterness crept in?

To be a servant of the Lord often means living much like the truss in a house.

We help lift something strong into place.

Then, when the time comes, we step back and let others build on what God allowed us to begin.

That is not loss.

That is faithful building.

So let me ask you, dear friend:

Are you willing to be the hidden strength that helps hold up what God is building?

Psalm 127:1

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

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Did you notice I didn't say "why?"

Our why is because Jesus Christ died for our sins, we only want to give back in thankfulness.