gods_glory

Built for God’s Glory, by Gini Kittle

In Mark 13:1-2 we see an interesting exchange between Jesus and His disciples.“Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’”

I love the fact that Jesus took every opportunity He had to respond to His disciples and turn an ordinary observation into a teachable moment. As a home schooling mom, I try to do that too with my son! I am certain the Temple was very impressive and worth commenting on. History tells us that it was magnificent and massive. It was considered one of the architectural wonders of its time having been built by a man who wanted it to be a lasting monument to the greatness of his own dynasty. But that was the point of Jesus’ teaching here: this is a place built for man’s glory, not God’s glory. Jesus saw the true motive of the builder’s heart. He prophesied that it would be destroyed, and sure enough in 70 A.D., when Rome attacked, it was destroyed.

Perhaps you and I need to learn this same lesson in regards to our own lives. So many of us get pretty excited about what we’ve accomplished. Sometimes we seem to glory in what God’s done through us instead of giving all the glory to Him. So let us examine our hearts afresh today by asking two simple questions: 1) Are we giving God the glory that is due to Him? 2) Are our lives built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and not the crumbling foundation of self and pride? Everything that glorifies the flesh needs to be torn down, so God receives all the glory!