Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Corinthians+003
CHAPTER 3 (ESV)
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
REFLECTION:
- The metaphor of the building indicates that, first, we’re workers with God. And second, we’re worked upon by God. We’re both the builders of the church and simultaneously part of the church that is being built. We’re constantly in a state of both being the church and becoming the church. When we pour our lives into God’s work, we become the actual materials for the church that God is building. Under the direction of the Master Builder, we are being transformed. An insignificant and even a rather ugly brick becomes a significant part of a beautiful structure, built to the glory of God.
- Pray — Ask God help me to be His faithful worker in building His church, also to cooperate with His formation work in me to become more and more like Christ.
PRAYER:
May God help me to willingly devote myself to building His church; may God make me even more humble and help me understand that everything I build is not for my own glory, but to seek God’s pleasure; may God establish the foundation of my life, leading me to complete surrender, and may I willingly take up my cross to follow the Lord.
HYMN:
Build This House – youtu.be/v3P9H8ERw9w
