A few weeks ago, I saw a news update that read, “Mexico church roof collapses during mass…”. As I clicked to read further, I saw a brief video that showed the moment the building collapsed. It was sad to see people gathered to worship lose their lives and dozens injured.
On one hand, some may ask, why would a loving God allow such a thing to happen during worship hours? The answer is, we don’t know, nor can we explain God’s reasons. On the other hand, this reminds us of the importance of man’s responsibility regardless of their faith. While faith in God leads us to experience extraordinary grace and blessings, it must however not be a reason to forgo our duty and responsibilities.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he used the analogy of constructing a building to explain the importance of what we build our faith with. In his letter, he wrote,
“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. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—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” 1 Corinthians 3:10-13
In the context of the passage, Paul was writing to those who labour for the souls of others in the Kingdom. He was writing to the teachers, pastors, evangelists etc.; but in a broader context, he was also writing to individual believers.
Paul was stressing on the importance of building one’s faith with valuable substance that last and can endure the test of time. He spoke of building with gold, silver and precious stones. These materials aren’t easy to come by. They are often hidden in the ground, and it takes work and resources to access them. On the other hand, the wood, hay, and straw, are easy to come by. These are materials that can be found on the surface of the earth and aren’t as precious and valuable as the other materials.
Similar to the precious earthly materials, Paul was exhorting believers to build their faith on precious spiritual materials, such as the truth of God’s Word, righteousness, love, and other godly virtues. On the other hand, he was cautioning believers to avoid building their faith with easy hay like materials such as worldly wisdom, sugar coated half-truths, emotions etc.
The foundation of our faith is Christ Jesus, but the materials we use to build our faith will prove its durability in times of trouble.
May we seek to build our faith with substance that endures into glory.
Blessings on you.
Chris Eke
