Let God Be Magnified

Everyone -

My wife and I just got back from Jamaica. It was wonderful. But what is so frustrating and interesting at the same time is how so much poverty and so much luxury can co-exist in the same area.

After you land at the airport it takes you about 2 hours (or more) to reach your resort. Along the way all you see are these half-completed homes and shacks that look like they may fall with the next hurricane (and these shacks are completed!). These homes are made out of concrete and are usually two stories each. They look like they might be the size of a very nice two-story apartment if the individual rooms were separated from each other. As you look at the homes, they generally have reinforcement wire sticking out like a Rastafarian’s hair that had been dreaded for about 10 years. There are pillars that stand alone holding nothing but the sun as it rises and falls. These homes will one day be beautiful structures, but as they are they stand as a reminder of the poverty and difficulty life brings to a Jamaican. Yeah mon.

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As we were coming home the bus driver explained why these concrete homes were so incomplete. The cost of the average home is around $15,000 US dollars which is a terribly large sum of money for these people. And the average mortgage has an interest rate of around 40%! So it’s no wonder not many are unable to own homes. But it turns out that these people will work off of cash and build their home little by little as they have allowance. He said sometimes it takes around 20 years to complete a house and often the job is passed onto the next generation in the family.

Imagine the patience and dedication!

Isn’t this just like our Father? This reminds me of how He is building up His church and His people little by little and in His way and on His time.

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 3:9-11

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” – Ephesians 2:19-22

This idea of the “cornerstone” being a metaphor for Jesus or the coming Messiah (same thing) is an important concept that God uses over and over. In the Old Testament is it used three times with this meaning:

Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Zechariah 10:4

And this idea obviously had a considerable impact on the Apostles and disciples of Jesus as they used it seven times in the New Testament in reference to Him:

Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6; 1 Peter 2:7

It’s importance is obvious. Anything that is not based upon the foundation of Jesus Christ that has already been established is futile and worthless. In fact, all that exists has been made through Him:

“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” – John 1:3

Most of all, Christianity is based upon Him. He is the object by which all else is measured. He is the foundation by which all decisions are made. He is the support upon which all rests and all depend for without Him none would be saved:

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

Is He your cornerstone? What part are you playing in this building He is making? Are you watching it being made or are you participating in it’s construction? And most of all, since He may not return in our lifetime (come, Lord Jesus), is this building we are making going to be a generational affair? What do your children know of Him? What do your friends know of Him?

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” – Colossians 3:23

Take care, Eriek

PS: please pray for those on Jamaica. As of this writing Hurricane Dean is about 24 hours from hitting the island with the most fierce wind that Jamaica has ever had – sustained winds of 150mph from a potential Category 4 hurricane.