Building for Eternity

Mea e 'ai e tatau ma le aso
“Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it ” (Luke 14:28)

Our Lord was not referring here to the cost of building materials which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted.

The cost was thirty years in Nazareth, three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, and the unimaginable agony He had to experience in Gethsemane, and finally the assault upon Him at Calvary Mountain—the central point of which all of history, time and eternity, will for ever revolve.

Jesus Christ has already counted the cost.  In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything.  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (14:26).

This verse does not literally mean for us to hate our fathers, or families, and love them any less, but it teaches us that the only ones our Lord will use in His gospel building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion—those who put Him first and have a genuine love for Him that goes far beyond our closest relationships on earth.  Those who are tested in fire for their devotion and commitment to His great plan of salvation.

The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.   "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed."  (Revelation 3:18)  He compares them to gold that is refined in fire, where only the purest of gold will shine.

All that we build in whatever ministry we are called to do, is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10–15). Or are we building up the foundation which He has set.?

We are living in perilous times, a time of tremendous personal enterprises, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)

As the Master Builder, Jesus takes us over so that He may direct and control our wants completely for His enterprises and His plans.   For the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laboures are few.

Jesus said "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will [my] Father honour.  (John 12:26)

Ia manuia,

failauga p. anoa'i