Flammable Materials?

In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, we are told:
"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."


When I read this passage recently, I was really impacted by it. It struck me hard, bringing out the truth of Ecclesiastes 12:13. In this verse, one of the wisest men that ever lived--Solomon--realizes that to "fear God, and keep his commandments:...this is the whole duty of man." Does this hit you the way it did me? Everything we do that is not honoring to God is worthless! The reason we were formed, the reason we were given life was to glorify God! Sadly, in our selfishness and pride, we are distracted from our ‘whole duty’. But one thing we do not realize is that when we serve our own selfish desires and lusts, we are rebelling against the One Who made us. We must be willing to sacrifice our own rebellion and to give our lives to him. C.S. Lewis explains,

Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, I have come to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down’

     

Our own selfish desires fear surrendering to Christ because they know they will be killed. Indeed, we cannot serve Christ without presenting ourselves to God. As Romans 12:1 expounds: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’ 

The questions I asked myself after reading 1 Cor. 3:11-15 were: Am I honoring God in my daily life? Am I building the structure of my life with precious metals, or old barn wood? And you, are you building your life with flammable materials? 

Ad Majoriam Dei Gloriam!
-Elijah