Title: Building for Eternity / Topic: Choices

Today's Reading: Job 33; 1 Corinthians 1; 1 Corinthians 2; 1 Corinthians 3

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Observation: Our choices in this life have eternal consequences. They determine the kind of building we will have in heaven. Are we building with gold, silver and precious stones? These represent the times when we obey God and crucify our flesh to make decisions that honor God. Or are we living according to our flesh, engaging in gossip, criticism, divisiveness, materialism and the like? If we live according to our flesh, Paul likens that to building with wood, hay and stubble that will be burned in the fire of judgment. In that case , we will be saved as one escaping from a fire. Our lives will be saved but there will be no rewards for us. If we follow God and deny our flesh we will be rewarded with more than we can imagine.

Application: We forget sometimes that our everyday choices have eternal consequences. Choosing to indulge our flesh in front of the TV is not building with gold , silver and precious stones. Are we willing to have temporal values and instant gratification rob us of eternal (that means forever folks; a lot longer than this life) blessing? We need o consider these things as we make our choices.

Prayer: Father let us be strengthened in our spirits . Our fleshly impulses are so strong that they often rule our decision making by default. We need your Spirit to whisper to us and help us to follow closely so that we all have lots of treasure in heaven, where it will last forever.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.