Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 3:10-14
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: Job 5-7, 1 Corinthians 3
1 Corinthians 3:10-14 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Paul, the skilled master builder
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.
What does this passage mean to me/us? Contributed by Larry Dickenson
| In recent years, I have been privileged to visit some of the great Christian churches and cathedrals built in Spain, Italy and Israel. Most recently I also visited the Mission San Xavier Del Bac (the “White Dove of the Desert”) in Tucson, AZ, built as a mission outreach to the native Americans and now part of the Tohono O’odham Reservation. These beautiful places of worship share some common features. But large or small, each one resonates with a certain holy serenity.
Most importantly, each one is a testament of faith. The cathedrals generally had a timeline of 100-200 years, or more, from start to finish. The ones who conceived the design, rarely lived to see much more that the completion of foundations and maybe some partial walls. Those who built the great walls, columns and pillars, never saw the roof completed. Each new wave of master builders and tradesmen built on the work of those who had gone before, trusting in faith, that those who followed would be true to the vision and foundation, all the way to the end. I believe that idea of faith is what Paul had in mind in this part of his letter to the church in Corinth (Greece). Like a “skilled master builder” he had laid a foundation in founding their church, the grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. But now others were adding to that foundation. Paul cautions that “Each [new] builder must choose with care how to build on it” and that the work of each builder will be revealed and tested by fire, to see if the builder will be rewarded. Nearly ninety-eight (98) years a new Methodist faith community was begun. We continue to build on their foundation; the grace and power of Jesus Christ to produce a community that loves God, loves one another, and seeks to transform the world. To be true to that foundation, we must choose with care what we build and how we build it, knowing that our efforts will be tested by the fire of the Holy Spirit. For each of us, Lent offers us a good time to examine our life. Is our foundation solidly built on faith in the grace, salvation and love of Jesus Christ? Is that what others see in us? |
Prayer
Dear gracious Lord and Creator,
I come into your presence, seeking your mercy, solely by the grace of Jesus Christ, my Savior. Strengthen me to see myself clearly as Your precious child, that I can walk through this life in freedom, and not the chains of sin. Help me build a foundation in Jesus Christ that will endure the testing that must come, ready for the next one to build on.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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