Building For Eternity

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 a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has 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” (Luke 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 ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.

All that we build 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). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.

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永恆的建造

你們那一個要蓋一座樓，不先坐下算計花費，能蓋成不能呢？ （路十四28）

主所指的代價，不是要我們去計算，他已經計算好了。就是三十年在拿撤撒，三年被人擁戴、毀謗和憎恨，客西馬尼園無底的痛苦，加略山上被宰殺－－成為整​​個時間與永恆轉動的樞軸。

耶穌基督已計算了代價。所以世人最終也無法指著他說：[這人動了工，卻不能完工。 ]在26、27及33節中，主陳明作門徒的條件；在他建造大工所用的人，是他已經為他們付上一切代價的人。 [人到我這裡來，若不恨……就不能作我的門徒。 ]主的意思是在他建造大工上用得著的人，是那些熱切地、忠心地愛他，超過地上任何最親密者的人。條件非常嚴格，但卻是榮耀的。

我們一切所建造的，都要經神檢驗。神察驗的火，是否發覺在主的根基上，竟建立了我們自己的事業？現在正是建立事業的大好機會，是我們努力為神工作的日子，可是其中卻密佈著網羅。其實認真地說，我們根本不能為神作工。耶穌把我們放在他的工程上，完全放在他建造的大計中，我們是沒有權選擇要被放在什麼地方。

祈禱◆主啊，引導我們的心思進入你的計劃中。許多人已步向你那榮耀，卻帶有危險的開放境地。主啊，請傾注你那浩大的能力，來糾正我們的生命，使它成為煥發著健康的豐盛生命。