Chosen Grace

In my last two blog posts, The Establishing and A True Workmanship, I detailed that God has been doing something new in me. And He is. But this blog post gets deeper at those things. Let’s dig in.

In the mornings on my commute to work, I listen to worship music. It helps me to get mentally prepared for my day and the problems that can arise with grace. On one particular day, I had just gotten settled in on the road when the song Build My Life by Bri Babinuex began playing.

The lyrics go a little something like this:

And I will build my life upon Your love
It is a firm foundation
And I will put my trust in You alone
And I will not be shaken

– Redman, Martin, Kaple, Younker, Barnett (composer, lyricists) (2016)

As I began singing along, I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to not only continue singing, but to really take these words to my heart. And so I did.

As soon as I got to work, I began to search God’s Word about “foundations” and “buildings”. Soon, the Lord showed me in His Word what was written in the song.

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames.

– 1 Corinthians 3, NIV

In the passage above, the Apostle Paul is writing a heartfelt letter to the church in Corinth. Earlier in that chapter, they had been arguing over “who” they followed – Paul or Apollos? However, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that while he and Apollos had been called to be teachers and leaders, it was the Holy Spirit himself who gave growth.

And right after that is where we ended up with our passage. You see, the Apostle Paul was reminding the people in Corinth that they aren’t just people. They, in fact, are God’s dwelling-God’s temple (v.17), and because of that, our foundations have to be right. And this doesn’t just apply to people who lived centuries ago, but to us as well.

You see, when we come to Christ, we begin the life-long process of sanctification – the process by which we as believers are changed to become more like Christ. It’s a lifelong process because as we grow, God will reveal, prune, and heal more areas of ourselves. We’ll reach perfection in heaven. But while we’re here, it’s an everyday process.

That said, oftentimes in our sanctification process, God must tear apart our already existing foundations in order to build one that will last. In verse 12 above, the Apostle Paul uses building materials such as gold, costly stones, and hay to bring about his point that whatever we build upon, our work will show.

Now, in our spiritual lives, we may not be building with tangible materials, but we are indeed building with something. We are either building with our flesh or building with our spirit. Think about it:

When someone curses you out- are you gonna cuss them back out our pray for them?

When you’re feeling overwhelmed and anxious, do you worry or consult with the Father?

When you’re lonely – do you go back to those old vices or seek wise counsel?

If you found yourself in one of those examples, it’s ok! I saw myself in these examples as I was writing this post.

My point is, though, that sometimes our foundations are wrong. Now – sometimes this isn’t our fault. We can’t help what happened to us as children or what people have done to us. But, as we grow in Christ, He’ll challenge those ideas that others have placed on us. Or the ones we’ve placed on ourselves. These could be rooted in abuse, lies, fears, and more.

Growing up, though I had been naturally gifted with the ability to sing, I never felt that my voice was super strong or powerful. Although I knew I could sing, seeing others get praised in church or at the school talent show always made me feel less than. Unknowingly, I had built a foundation off a lie that I couldn’t sing.

As I grew older and began to establish a true foundation with the Lord, He began to heal different areas, one of which was my feelings about my singing voice. The Lord began to tell me that He loved my singing voice – confirming it through my friends and random people hearing my hum a tune. Imagine that- the Lord of Lords coming down to tell you that He loves the very thing you took for granted.

Now that I know my true worth, I absolutely love the way God has designed my voice. He’s shown me how unique it is and how wonderful I sound (especially when I’m worshipping Him).

Now, your situation may not be mine, but God seeks to undue our crooked, messed-up foundations to lay one full of love, care, and grace.

As I close this blog post, my prayer for you all is that you allow God to build your life. Jesus Christ is the only true foundation that is pure, lovely, and free! He won’t cost you anything to believe in Him. Instead – He’ll give you life- and life more abundantly (John 10).

Though God is still building my life – tearing apart old foundations and laying new ones – I wouldn’t have it any other way. Why? Because God is good – and His plans for me are holy.

And yes, this applies to you too, friend.

With a new appreciation for God’s building,

Malaysia

P.S. – I linked the video to the song below! There are lots of versions, but hers is by far my favorite!