Without the Lord the builder’s work is in vain

Without the Lord the builder’s work is in vain

I wanted to post this today, even if it applies well beyond the normal boundaries of my church comms blog, in to other ministries, other situations and life as a whole. This comes from the heart!

I often bang on about quality – I even wrote a blog post about the importance of striving for excellence in church communications, and I stand by it; I sincerely believe that we are to put our upmost efforts in to giving God the best we can manage.

However, we can produce the most incredible work – the best social media strategy, the most attractive church welcome leaflet, or hundreds of great quality blog posts on our church website – and yet we can miss the point.

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
Psalm 127:1

This verse was brought to mind by the dear old doctor in this photo, taken as part of the #LansdowneForGood series, that I hope to write about soon.

Lansdowne Memory Photo - The builder's work

It’s possible to focus so much on the product that we forget Him who we seek to promote. It’s incredibly easy to focus on the details of our serving that we put aside the One whom we serve. I’m speaking from experience; I suppose this post is to serve as much as a reminder to me as it is to instruct anyone else.

I care about the small things – the things that probably aren’t noticed by 99%. I think it comes with the territory of having a design-focused mind, noticing (and wanting to fix) the details. But if my heart isn’t in the right place, if God’s glory and His service aren’t the things that are motivating me, perhaps it’s better that the details are left alone, and I take a step back to look at the bigger picture.

I’m also reminded of these words from the apostle Paul:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3

This is a reminder that no matter how important our ministry may be – whether it’s in the details or the big picture – it’s nothing without love. I may be entirely justified in correcting mistakes, or disputing a decision, but if I do so without love for my brother or sister in Christ, I’d be better off not doing it at all.

I apologise to all those that I may have ‘corrected’ (at least ‘correct’ from my point of view) without love. I hope this is a challenge to you as it has been to me – don’t be a resounding gong!

3 Responses

  1. Timothy Reynolds

    Good reminder, Joe – thank you.

  2. Rich

    This is great Joe. You should submit it to threadsuk dot com (my favourite Christian blog)!

  3. Joe

    Thanks Rich, maybe I will 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *