Faith and Toil

UV 2753/10000 Faith and Toil
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
I Corinthians 3 v 9
We are given the privilege of being co-labourers with God. We are faithful toilers working side by side with the Lord. We are God’s labourers, His material as well as His building at one and the same time. We are being built on the rock foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone and the keystone of our lives. Our lives are being built on the principles, precepts and the example of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the builder. We are built with precious stones and priceless materials that will withstand the test of fire. We are the house or tabernacle that God is building for His residence. Every single day we are involved in building. The design of the building is in the heart of the master builder Jesus. He reveals it part by part, day by day. He will make all things beautiful in the end.
We are the living stones with which the temple of Christ is re-built. We are His spiritual house as long as we hold firm the hope and joy we have in Him till the very end of our lives. We are the resources of the Lord. We are the means He uses to achieve His purpose. We are the sharpened weapons in His hands. We are the tools of precision He uses. We are the pots He shapes as well as the potter’s wheel. We are the vessels He fills with His spirit to carry His message to humanity. We need to empty ourselves of the things that belong to us and replace it with what belongs to the Lord. The Lord works on us and removes the flaws, the angularities and inborn defects. Christ is the royal ancestor symbolised in the person of the Priest-King Melchizedek as well as the descendant of David symbolised in Zerubbabel. Like Melchizedek, we offer up daily sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving in the spiritual house of our bodies and with all our human faculties. Like in the case of Zerubbabel, the Lord will flatten the mountain of challenges before us and make it as flat as a plain. He will provide the plumb line of His word to build the walls of our salvation, strong, straight and erect. As Noah applied pitch or tar on the inside and the outside of the walls of the ark to make it water proof, flood proof, disaster proof, we need to apply the blood of Jesus both on the inside and the outside to sanctify the building of our lives.
Another practical implication of this uni-verse is that the Lord is our co-worker in our own workplace, our professions. He will give us timely and effective assistance. He will give us wonderful and wise counsel. He will enable us to enjoy the fruit of our labour. He will watch over us at all times and bring to fruition our efforts. He will feed us with spiritual manna and strengthen us. He will multiply our resources so as to meet the need. He lends His shoulder as a co-worker to bear our burden or yoke to make it light enough for us to bear. All of what we are and all what we do will fit together like the parts of a building held together by the wisdom and grace of the master builder- Jesus.
Prateep V Philip