Day 180: Buildings

1 Corinthians 3; 1 Kings 15:33-16:34; Joel 3

How do we become spiritual people? Paul tells us that it doesn't include jealousy or arguing, or following anyone besides God. The Corinthians must have been struggling with jealousy and disagreements, and many of them had split into groups of Paul-followers or Apollos-followers. Paul says that they are simply servants and that the people need to mature and realize that it is God at the center of it all.

He goes on to give an illustration of what we are building in this life. We are all building something. Christ is the only foundation that will really last. Our lives built on anything else will crumble and fail, if not now, then on the day we stand before The Lord and give account for our lives. Paul uses gold vs. wood to illustrate a point about building a life of value or worthlessness; things that will last or not. What's crazy is that the things that Paul would say are the "gold" are actually nothing that the world considers valuable. The things that would be of "gold" would be our personal ministry and who and how we share the love of Jesus; serving people who are in need in order to making a lasting difference in their lives; developing the fruits of the spirit like peace, patience, kindness, etc. But what the world sees as valuable but Paul would call wood, hay, or straw, are wealth, reputation, success, recognition. Those things will not last because when we get to heaven, it won't matter how much money we made in this life, because you can't take it with you. It won't matter what your reputation was because God will see who you really are. And success is not something that matters either because whether you were a CEO or janitor, God loves us all the same. The things that we will be able to see are those that we shared God's message with who will be with us in heaven and the spiritual qualities that we developed because those too we will have in heaven.

Leader after leader of Israel disobeys The Lord by worshiping idols. The leaders of communities set the tone and do so much to help or hinder the people. That is why it is so important that our leaders (from the heads of families to the heads of state and country) need to be chosen carefully.

In Joel there is a beautiful picture of what God will create after he has judged and defeated all the guilty and those that hate him. He says that he will "punish the guilty and defend the innocent." God loves his people and one day he will set up a beautiful kingdom for his people and make right all the wrongs that have happened to the innocent.