Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life.
“And in Jesus Christ you are being built together to become a dwelling in which
God lives by His Spirit”, Ephesians 2:22.
Around Pentecost Sunday why not think about how God builds and shapes us in the church to become all He wants us to be?
The pictured piles of bricks will be used by skilled builders to make homes, shops, public halls, churches and mosques. They will be chosen and carried to the right place where they can be used. Then they will be set in position on a good solid foundation. Using a plumb line for straightness each brick will be individually placed alongside other bricks. They will be above some and below others. Each brick will be carefully joined to those bricks close by to it. Perhaps then they will be covered by paint so that they themselves will become invisible. When the structure is finished and lived in no-one will even think about the individual bricks! Every single one will be forgotten as long as it is doing its job. However, if it cracks or crumbles the stone will very soon need to be replaced by a newer and stronger stone. It is often only the troublesome stones that are well-known!
Carrying this picture into the Christian church, read Ephesians 2:19-22. God is building His church out of Christian people. He chooses us. He carries us. He sets us. He places us. He wants His church to be strongly “built up” together, Ephesians 4:11-13.
Peter uses the same picture in 1 Peter 2:4-5. Christians are “living stones” in God’s building. Jesus Christ is our foundation stone, verse 6. Just as Jesus suffered and died before rising to life again and pouring out God the Holy Spirit to live within us, so we must be ready to accept daily hardships and the heavy weight of crushing spiritual responsibilities. God is still at work.
Always remember, what God builds, God lives in! Believe it wherever He has designed for you to serve Him. Difficulties can be more easily borne when you know the architect and builder of your life is God. In His hands always try and remember to be what you are. You are filled with God the Holy Spirit Himself. God now lives in you to work through you His eternal purposes.
May 2010.
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