i am an offering

Yesterday I had lunch at the Pizza Ranch in Tea, and drove back roads to get there.  In the process, I past 57th and Western, where Bracco and many other new places have popped up, and 69th and Western, where there is also a lot of new developement going on.  Also, on the East side of town, groundbreaking for two huge “lifestyle center” projects is going to begin soon.  It really excites me to see our city growing, and see the building that is taking place.  But even though it’s exciting to have new options for shopping, eating and entertainment, these buildings won’t last.

Look at these words from 1 Corinthians chapter 3:9-17

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

So often we tend to build kingdoms of our own.  We build bigger houses, we crave ambition for bigger business, sometimes we even hope to build bigger churches in the hope that we will be noticed.

But Paul clearly says that the building that we need to worry about is our own body.  We are God’s temple, the building which houses the Holy Spirit, and we need to depend upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.

What kinds of foundations for your life are you laying?  Are you building upon the foundation of Jesus, or upon a foundation that will crumble?