Good morning, all!
Father, we know that You are the architect of our life and You have laid a strong foundation which is Christ. Give us the wisdom Lord to build on this foundation, give us the strength to continue Your work through us so that You will be glorified, Amen.
1 Corinthians 3
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, [ye are] God’s building.
We work together with God, we are His vineyard, and we are His building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
This is all based on the GRACE that God has given us, which makes us a WISE builder, the foundation has been laid and now we build on it but watch HOW you build on it.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
For NO man can lay the foundation, for the foundation of course is Jesus Christ…that’s right the CHIEF cornerstone.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Now if ANY man build in this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, WOOD, HAY and STUBBLE;
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
No matter who you are HOW you build will be known because the fire will reveal it, for the fire will try EVERY man’s work and HOW good it is.
Bottom line
What do they say, a building is only as good as it’s foundation? We should all rejoice over verse 11, we ALL have Jesus Christ as our foundation and…NO man can change that!!! I love how this passage opens; WE get to work together with God. And He’s even given us what we need to do the work…GRACE!!! What should we do with the grace God has given us?
[1Pe 4:10 KJV] As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. According to the word of God EVERY man has received the gift of grace and we should minister…SERVE the same to each other. Makes sense, if God has given us this tremendous gift we should probably use it, right?
[Mat 9:36 CSB] When Jesus saw the crowds and moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and rejected, like sheep without a shepherd. This is grace, Jesus SAW the CROWDS (yeah all kinds of folk in that crowd…He don’t discriminate) and was MOVED with on compassion on the weak, the rejected and the lost. They didn’t have to be right, or perfect, or look like Him to receive His compassion…the fact that there was a need is all that was required and then Jesus did the rest. HOW we build on our foundation matters, we are to build with gold, silver and precious stones. The Gold is faith NOT feelings, the silver speaks of redemption which is called FORGIVENESS and the precious stones…we all have two, they are located just below your forehead…yes, your EYES. What makes them precious? Your ability to SEE people in your life as precious, to see that they too are a child of God with a heart. Has God given you eyes of grace? Do you look at the rejected and lost and have compassion on them? This is why Jesus came, salvation includes us seeing one another differently than the world.
[Jhn 9:39 KJV] And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. He came to give us eyes of grace and see compassion and blind our eyes to being critical, judgmental, bias, seeing sin. This is what gets burned by the fire if we try to include them as we build our lives, the wood which is us judging the sin of others.
[Mat 7:3 NLT] And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? Jesus said the greater offense was seeing the sin in others NOT the actual sin. The hay, well that’ what animal’s eat…it our beast nature which is SELFISH…you can’t build anything of value to God with that lifestyle. And the stubble, well that’s NOT stable and gets blown all over the place…just like our emotions when we don’t agree with one another also known as strife.
[Pro 29:22 NLT] An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin. Probably can’t build on that foundation with anger, probably should us the fruit of the spirit called GENTLENESS, what do you think?
[Tit 3:2 NIV] To slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. Hmm…that feels like grace to me if we’re ALWAYS making peace with others and being gentle to EVERYONE, I would think that’s something the fire couldn’t burn…now we’re building something that’s eternal, something that God could call home but make sure we include the welcome mat for the weak, the rejected and the lost. If it ain’t a home for ALL it ain’t God’s.
Point to Ponder
What makes us different from the world? [Jde 1:22 KJV] And some have compassion, making a difference. Compassion is the only difference between us & the world.
In His eyes, In Him Phil
Faith – Family – Friends
