PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 13:1-8
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Do you see all these great buildings, every one will be thrown down.” (Mark 13:3)
These were the first words I thought of on September 11, 2001.
I don’t mean that God was punishing the US, or the people in the towers.
But our grand buildings often represent our arrogance, our own version of Babel.
“What magnificent buildings” (13:1), but God sees beneath and behind them to the heart.
He sees the greed and injustice that often build these temples to human pride.
God is not impressed with our buildings or numbers, programs or events.
He sees the people, both inside and outside the buildings.
He is impressed by – or not – the hearts of each person He sees.
Think of all that you have ‘built’ in your life – homes, jobs, savings, possessions.
Do you think God is as impressed by them as you are?
Are those ‘things’ truly helping you build God’s kingdom, or getting in the way?
Have you invested into building your character and calling?
As a Jesus follower, is my life honorable to the Lord?
Am I using all that I am, all that I have, to make God’s kingdom impressive?
PRAYER
Lord, You have not called me to build programs, institutions, not even the ‘church’. You have called me to BE a disciple, and to MAKE disciples. May this become my legacy, a legacy that endures!
Earthly things crumble and worldly kingdoms fail! So too anything I try to establish has its limits – I need to accept that. My security is not what I have amassed but in Jesus. Forgive me Lord for sometimes devoting too much time to things that don’t amount to anything and won’t last. Help me to have eternity in mind!
“Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
Thank you Lord for being more enduring that the largest of boulders and the most magnificent of buildings. Thank you for giving us calm before and within the storms. Help me remember that there is work to be done before the end of the age and your coming is a deadline, not “check-out time”.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
All that I am I owe to You Lord and may nothing stand in that way – serving You. It is not what my hands have done. All needs to be for Jesus. He is Lord. May others see Christ Jesus living in me.
1 We give thee but thine own,
whate’er the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone,
a trust, O Lord, from thee.
2 May we thy bounties thus
as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us,
to thee our first fruits give.