Sometime in the Fall of 1926 my great grandmother, Nettie Gault, wrote to Elbert A. Smith and asked him to provide a short article for a Religio periodical called “The Echo.” Brother Elbert’s reply was dated October 20, 1926 and is a precious heirloom. The article that he wrote for “The Echo” follows. It’s message I’m sure was timely and addressed needs that existed in the body of Christ at that time. As I read through it recently I found Brother Elbert’s message timeless and also relevant for the body of Christ today and worthy of our contemplation and consideration.

Building the Tower
by Elbert A. Smith

Two things Jesus emphasized: stability of character and continuity of purpose. At one time he said: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” – Luke 14:28

We have seen instances where men have begun to build without counting the cost, and then have tired of the project. A ruined foundation is left, to be known as “John Doe’s Folly.”

A ruined house that has held life and served the end of its creation is not nearly so pathetic as the ruin of an incomplete building that never sheltered life or in any way filled its intended mission. To an old and broken down man who has done his work well, lived his life, builded in his generation, we may give honor and reverence. A man who lost his purpose and abandoned his work before it was finished is a pitiful sight.

Some people begin building the tower of Christian character in a moment of religious fervor. They count the blessings and not the cost. They see the promise of great blessings in this life and eternal salvation in the next world. They fail to count the cost in sacrifice, suffering, toil, self-denial, and self-discipline. Not having counted the cost they soon tire of the enterprise and abandon it. A great tower is not built without toil and sweat and concentrated and sustained effort.

We should select the foundations of life with care. It has been truly said on that point: “Other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” His philosophy, his beliefs and assurances concerning immortality, and our relations to God and our fellow men furnish quite the only adequate foundation on which to build the tower of Christian character – true manhood or womanhood. Having begun to build we should persist, perhaps slowly, but by all means certainly, until it is finished.

Christ’s words on the cross: “It is finished”, were significant. So few lives are really finished. Men dwindle out or become discouraged and turn aside. “You ran well for a season” was the epitaph of the Galatians.

Some men are born with a certain stability of character. In his wonderful poem on Lincoln, Markham said that he had “the rectitude and patience of the rocks”, that he “Held the long purpose like a growing tree – Held on through blame and faltered not at praise.”

We may develop stability and continuity. All have to learn to stand erect and walk alone. We can learn to stand erect morally and persist in our chosen course, being always careful to determine that it is a course to be persisted in, and wasting time on no other course.

Perhaps nothing will help us more that during times of peace to lay deep our resolutions against the time of stress. Then when in the Garden of Gethsemane remember the Mount of Transfiguration.

When your body is strong, your mind clear, the Spirit of the Lord illuminating you, choose the better course, plan your life, begin to build your tower. Then if later you find yourself with a body weary, mind confused, the Spirit darkened, remember the resolutions made when you were at your best and highest, and say, “This is no time to make new decisions. I will abide by the decisions made in the best hour I have ever known.”