The following poem poses a few questions. One could be “am I a builder or a wrecker?” or “am I known for building up or tearing down others?” We are instructed to be edifiers. Edification is concerned with building up. It is not about self but is about the building up of others. Edification strengthens, encourages, etc. It constructs and does not destroy.
A Builder or A Wrecker
As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a hefty blow and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”
He gave a laugh and said, “No, indeed,
Just common labour is all I need.”
“I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do.”
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play’
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can’
Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labour of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labours be
That which will build for eternity!” (Author Charles Franklin Benvegar (originally published in 1967 in “The Songs of the Free State Bards” ))
We are instructed in the Scriptures to….Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11;
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:9;
To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,..Ephesians 4:12
From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:16
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbour. 1 Corinthians 10:23,24;
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13;
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building. Romans 14:19
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, …Romans 15:1-11
May the Lord be glorified through our lives as we love and serve one another by the power of the Holy Spirit Who works in and through us.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.” John 13:33-34.