‘No-one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have – Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials – gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames’. 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15
What is the foundation we build our lives upon? It’s Jesus – his grace to us in relationship, in freedom and in securing our identity with our Father. God is very concerned that we build on the right foundations. But he is also bothered about how we then build on that foundation.
This little passage from 1 Corinthians makes it clear that God puts value on how and what we build our lives with. Gold, silver and jewels indicate that there are things worth building that are of great value in the Kingdom of God. But it also suggests that there are things we can build that are of no eternal value and which will be burned up. The Bible is absolutely clear in this passage and in other places that what we do cannot earn us salvation – that is only possible through the grace of God – but it seems that God does have an agenda in how we live our lives once we are in relationship with Him. So my question is, what are you building with? How are you building the things of God and His Kingdom in your life, your family, your community, your workplace?
I’m not sure there is a heavenly list somewhere of what activities God does or does not consider valuable. I do think that the Bible makes clear one thing that is important, and that is LOVE. ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love’ (Galatians 5:6); ‘These three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Whatever you do, however you build, build it with love and I reckon you can’t go far wrong.
