A couple days ago I was talking to a pastor in Calapangan Sur, Philippines. We began to talk about the typhoon that just recently hit and how it was a travesty to many of the people in the Philippines. Most of the houses here are very small and have tin roofs with concrete walls. He told me that the church he preaches at was ripped apart by the typhoon and he was getting supplies to build it back up. When I sympathized with him and asked him how he was doing? Are you ok? He responded by saying, “what are you talking about? I’m great!”.
At this point I was extremely confused because his home church was blown away by the typhoon. He started to laugh. He literally laughed in my face and said, “the typhoon blew away our church…but it didn’t blow away our people?”
Wow. Did you just hear the faith on that man?
This pastor was so confident that the people had faith that couldn’t be shaken. That a typhoon could blow away the whole country, but as long as the people were still alive God was still at work. And here I am, concerned about the building. This happens a lot. We are so concerned about losing our tangible things. That if all our material things were taken from us, we feel like we would have nothing.
Now I know why this pastor was laughing. It’s worthy of a laugh. Because in the end a building won’t matter at all.
What if we lived everyday as if even though the walls of our church collapsed, we were so strong in our faith that it didn’t matter. That we made our church in our everyday lives and not on Sundays. That we would walk in the confidence that WE ARE THE CHURCH. Let’s live in such confidence that we LAUGH at the thought of losing our faith. That we stand firm next to our brothers and sisters and we became the foundation for the church.
What if your home, your church, your job, was all taken away from you, would you be so set on rebuilding it, or would you be confident that the Lord will provide for you? Would you be so strong in your faith that a building, a job, a church, is the least of your worries? That you could lose everything and still have the one thing you could ever need…Jesus.
The next time a storm comes in your life and you are terrified because your walls are blown away, think about the ground you are standing on. The foundation you have built. If it is Jesus Christ, what do you have to worry about? A building is just that…a building.
