What are you building upon?

Hey everyone. I hope you are having a great day. I have to ask you today, what do you build each and every day. We all build something since that is wired into our very nature. Now what we are building might not be as obvious as others.

Some build upon their reputation, their body or their financial plan by hanging out with a certain group of friends, working out or being wise with their investments in the stock market. Some might be building on their academic career by studying or their knowledge of a certain area by constantly listening to a certain topic. They may even be building upon their gaming life if they enjoy games a lot. There are a lot more ways we build upon stuff in our lives but whatever it is, we do build upon something each and every day with what we decide to do with our actions.

The Bible tells us that we should build upon eternal things multiple times. Jesus says it and then Paul echoes that in 1 Corinthians 3.

For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

Hcsb Bible

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t build upon some things since there does come some benefit and is wise to do it on earth. Paul even says that the discipline of the Body has some benefit in 1 Timothy 4:8, but the temporary things shouldn’t be our main priority for our lives. It’s real easy to invest and to build upon earthly things because you can either see it physically change or you see those numbers go up or down depending on what your working on. So you see the progress there and it can become addicting to a point but we shouldn’t let it become our god like some people have.

We need to invest in eternal things and build upon those because like the passage says, our temporary stuff that we’re working on; our weight, reputation, bank account, etc… will burn away at the end of time and we won’t take it with us when we die.

So what would be something that is eternal that we need to be serious about building upon? Would it be our friendships and our family? Though it’s great to have those relationships, unless you are trying to win them to the Lord or help them grow closer to God or they are helping you grow closer then that shouldn’t be your number one priority to build upon. The reason being, once you die and go to heaven, they may remember you for a little while and you may even have a generation or two after you remember your name somehow, that too shall pass and end and they’ll either be in heaven with you or hell.

What we need to invest in is our reading of the word of God and the working of our lives for God. Of course, after accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior since that’s the only way to heaven. In our reading of the word of God, the Holy Spirit will work in us to guide us into the directions that God wants us to go in our daily lives and career decisions.

Leading a fellow believer mature or helping lead a non believer are two huge things that will never burn away at the judgement seat of Christ at the end of time. If we don’t invest in our own spiritual life and the spiritual life of others with Christ, then the most we can expect to have when we to heaven is getting in by the skin of our teeth.

We may build upon everything beneficial in the world but if we don’t build upon the eternal truth of Jesus and his sacrifice for us then it will be as if we barely escaped a burning building. I don’t believe it will be without any injuries either. I believe it would be as if our pants are on fire and we’re having to put it out with the water next to the fire hydrant since the world will have influenced so much by the time we die.

So build upon your knowledge of Gods word because you never know when someone will ask you about what you believe and your answer could help determine their choice of either accepting Christ or not. Build upon your own spiritual journey and those of less mature Christians so that you know what you will have when you die and go to heaven and obviously because they are made in the image of God, just like you are.

So at the end of the day, build upon the eternal truth of Gods grace and forgiveness and not on your own earthly possessions. Even though I work on getting stronger to be healthy, that too won’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Don’t become too attached to what we possess here since we will all die and go in the generally same size hole in the ground.

I hope you have a great day and if you have any questions or disagreements just message me or comment below.