I was reading Ezra 1 today where Cyrus is stirred to rebuild the temple and calls forth everyone who is also stirred to build. Paul clarifies for us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that people are the new temple of the Holy Spirit. God no longer dwells in houses built by man but in people who surrender themselves to His will.
As ministers of His grace, I believe we are called and appointed to build His new temple. We are called to build people. My prayer is that God stirs your heart to action in building His people. I pray that the desire would burn within you to see His people equipped for holy worship.
I’m not saying that building don’t matter because they are often tools to help us build people. We don’t build people to build buildings, we build buildings to build people. We don’t build people to get resources, we need resources to build people. Our desire should be to build God’s kingdom via people instead of our own kingdoms.
I ask myself:
- Am I adding value to the flock today?
- How can I helping each person take a step towards Jesus?
- What can I do to encourage someone to be less like their former self and more like Christ?