Leave Boldly: Using Eternal Building Materials March 17, 2010

Leave Boldly: Using Eternal Building Materials

March 17, 2010

One Month to Live

30 days to a no-regrets Life

by Kerry and Chris Shook.

Principle 1: Live Passionately, Living each day as if it were your last.

Principle 2: Love Completely, showing others love that transcends and transforms.

Principle 3: Learn Humbly, growing through your problems and pain

Principle 4: Leave Boldly, Creating a legacy that will impact generations

Day 25, March 17, 2010—Using Eternal Building Materials

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

“He is not fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot

“But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.” Matthew 7:26

Take particular care in picking out your building materials.  Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; 1 Cor. 3:12-14

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. Romans 8:29

We’re all building bridges in our lives, but where are they leading? All our possessions on this earth will be washed away someday, but we last forever – We’re eternal beings. Our legacy is like a bridge; obviously we’d like it not only to endure but to lead others to a significant destination in their lives. So much in this world feels temporary, fragile, and finite that it is difficult to believe that anything we do can have a lasting effect.

What daily chores, routines, or responsibilities seem ceaseless in your life? Dishes? Cooking? E-mails? Phone calls? Driving? Ask God to help you remember that everything you do is noticed by Him.

Eternal Building Materials

If you want to ensure a legacy that will outlast you, that can withstand the ultimate fire drill, you need three key building materials.

First you need convictions. What do you stand for? Convictions are those core values from God’s Word that never change, they’re eternal. Studying God’s word is not enough, we must put it into our lives for it to be a conviction. “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.” Matthew 7:26 Convictions anchor us, shape us, permeates our lives and becomes a part of who we are.

Second you need character. When we die, we don’t take anything with us except our character, which is at our core. To shape our character God will use:

1.  Problems. Sometimes the problems are like fine sandpaper smoothing the edges. Other times they are like a jack hammer chipping away huge chunks that don’t look like Jesus.

2.  Pressures. To be Christ like is to keep patience under pressure.

3.  People. God likes to use people in our lives to enrich our character. Everyone one of us has people in our lives who are hard to love. God is making your life a work of art that reflects his image.

In what areas of your life are you currently experiencing the most pressure? How have you responded to it so far? How might God be using it to build character?

Third you need community. We need each other. To build the bridges and lasting legacies requires investing in people. We need teammates that help us build bridges that ultimately lead others to God.

Prayer:  Eternal Lord, help me keep my eyes clearly focused on you and your kingdom.  Today as I build my life, help me chose eternal building materials that will withstand the storms of this life.