8. The bricks in our lives (1)

We are discussing the different things that can occupy your time and with which you build your house (your life). We discussed things that can be regarded as building your house with straw. When you go through a difficult time in your life, these straw that you spent your time on, will not help you get through the crisis one bit. In fact it will blow away like chaff in the wind. Then you can build your house with sticks, like your work. It is important, but should not be the most significant thing that your life revolves around. Then we get the bricks in your life. Now they are the most important. These are the things that your world should revolve around. I am going to discuss them in detail over the next couple of weeks. But let's start with the most important brick. I am sure you guessed it. It is our wonderful Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

  1. Our foundation - Jesus Christ

Your faith In Jesus should be the foundation of your life and should receive the number one spot. Your relationship with the Lord should be your main priority in life. That is the most important part of our new covenant with Christ:

"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." Mark 12:30.

He must be the One you think about when you get up in the morning. He must be the One you run to when you have a problem, He must be the One you share your joys and delights with, He must be the One your whole day revolves around. Involve Him in everything, because He wants to be part of everything in your life. He wants you in totality. Of course He knows you need to work and you need to spend time with your family etc, but He wants to be part of it all. Involve Him.

After all, Jesus said: "Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."

We therefore need to seek God first, and then all other matters will be dealt with. It was the same when the Jews returned to the Promised Land after being exiled for 70 years. They were confident and happy to be back in their own land. They built an altar to the Lord and soon started rebuilding the Temple of God. But their enthusiasm quickly withered away as the hardship of being back in their desolate country started to get to them. They had a good life back in Babylon and some of them even had good businesses there and now they returned to a deserted, gloomy wasteland open to attacks from various enemies in the region. They started to feel depressed and left the building of the Temple to try and make a living and build their own houses. Soon enough they didn't have money and to top it all off, they started to experience crop failures and rapid increasing inflation. They didn't notice that these were sent from God because they stopped building His Temple, stopped putting Him first in their lives. God had to send the prophet, Haggai to tell them to stop with worrying and caring only about their own houses and lives, but to finish His Temple. He should be first and then all other things would be given besides.

And it is the same with us. The Temple of the Holy Spirit is our bodies and we should dedicate everything in our lives to Him. We should use our temple to glorify God and give Him the attention He so thoroughly deserves.

Put God first in your life, dedicate everything to Him. Jesus and His finished work on the cross is the foundation of your brick house and without Him even the bricks in your life will amount to nothing good. Without your Foundation, the brick house will eventually come tumbling down. God wants first place, and you know what, if you give it to Him, your life will have meaning and you will have the joy of the Lord to guide you through this life!

Lord Jesus, please help us to give You the number one spot in our lives that You so thoroughly deserve. You are our everything and without You, our whole lives will amount to nothing good. Thank you for always being there for us. Amen

 

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