God's Fellow Workers

As I was praying this past week, the Lord gave me a word from I Corinthians 3:9-15. It starts out in 3:9, "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building." The Holy Spirit quickened several things to me.

First, we are God's fellow workers in that we are in this thing together with God. I believe there is a growing need for being fellow workers in the body of Christ. This is to say that we take joint ownership of what God is doing in our church and around the world. God is calling us to enlarge our borders, our areas of interest and influence. We live in challenging times, but also times of unprecedented opportunities. These challenges we face require a greater sense of community and vision.

Secondly, in verse 10 Paul says that, "I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it." Paul goes on to say that the foundation we are building on is Jesus Christ. Because of the turbulent times we live in, we must build every aspect of our lives on Christ. Paul emphasizes not only how we build it, but more importantly, the kind of materials with which we build with, whether it is wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stone. Is what you are building temporal or eternal? Will what you build survive the challenges and changes we are facing today?

Paul said in verse nine that we are not only the builders, but we are God's building. So, God is not only interested in how we build our home, church, job or ministry but also how we develop ourselves spiritually as God’s temple. We need to allow God to develop us into gold, silver, and precious stone in order that we can be in a position to be used by God for His glory. God is calling us to build in ourselves and those with whom we work something that will stand the heat of time and the pressures of our rapidly changing world.

There are new demands that are coming on us and the church that require us to be careful how we build. If we are to build something that will last, we have to believe God for and nurture people of character. The only way we are going to build something that lasts is if we, as "God's fellow workers," take care to improve ourselves, take ownership of the work of God, and together seek to draw in people of like character, God's character, into the building of God. It is the character of the people that is going to enable us by God's grace and power to reach the full potential and destiny that God has for us in these last days.

May the Holy Spirit today renew your vision of the greatness of our God and what He desires to do in and through us for His glory.

Andy Clark