BUILDING UP OR TEARING DOWN
When I think of New Your City, I think of huge skyscrapers all standing in close proximity to each other. Should an outside force act upon one, it is likely going to affect the rest of the buildings around it. If everyone’s life was represented by buildings, what would our affect be on not only our own building, but also on the buildings we come in contact with? Would owners of other building welcome and even rejoice at our presence or would they dread they days we enter their establishments?
I recently read a poem by an unknown author that I would like for us to consider at this time.
A BUILDER OR A WRECKER
As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho and a great big yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled?
Are these the men you’d use to build?”
He laughed and said, “No indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.”
“I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do.”
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well made plan
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks in town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!”
What does the labor of our lives look like? What is it that we are working towards? Are we working towards building up or tearing down? Will our efforts see eternal rewards or nothing more than temporary pleasures? While so many are focused on adding more stories to their buildings, more years and materials to their lives, we should be focused on decorating the stories we do have with Christ. He should be found on every floor that God blesses us with, He should be what the focus of our building is, both internally and externally. Are we those types of Christians or are we content with placing Christ in the corner of the basement, attempting to justify such audacity by making statements like, “While at least He is somewhere in my life.” CHRIST SHOULD BE EVERYWHERE IN OUR LIVES! Only when we have Him are we truly building towards eternity.
What do we bring to the lives of others? What do we bring to the buildings of others? Do we do more bad than good or do we do more good than bad? Unless we are helping those around us also build towards eternity, unless we are helping those around us decorate their lives with Christ, being truly devoted to Him, we are not doing all the good God expects from us.
Colossians 2:6-7
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
We can build up our lives our buildings towards the sky, but just like the walls of Jericho, eventually everything will come tumbling down and be over.
I would like to add a few more lines to that poem…
Or am I a wrecker who walks in town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!”
And let me not destroy my soul or another’s
Help me to gain more sisters and brothers
Joining your church and bringing you glory
Doing your will in this, our story
Lord, help me to work and obtain the crown
And always build up and never tear down.