Wednesday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 16, 2023 by under
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:11-17 (NKJV)
3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 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. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Devotion
How important it is for a building to be erected with straight and strong walls. Any deviation from the vertical seriously affects the ability of a wall to stand. Likewise, the use of improper materials will also greatly hamper its strength. Additionally, the wall’s foundation must be strong and true. It matters not what is above if the footing below is not up to proper standards.
St Paul was careful to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, for He alone is the Rock upon which the Church must be built. Many religions start off wrong, ensuring failure in what is laid above. Others start off right, then branch off from the norm by allowing false doctrine and practice to pollute what was once pure. In today’s text, Paul calls this kind of construction using “wood, hay, or straw.”
The Reformation was not something new and different. It was a movement to break down the part that had strayed and return to the norm. It is our task to always examine where we are in relation to the Church’s one foundation: Jesus Christ her Lord.
Prayer: O God, Who declarest Thine Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
