Jesus promised to build his church and he is. We are the material from which it is constructed. Like Peter says in 1 Peter 2:4-5:
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (NIV)
But there’s a big problem with using living stones to build a thing, the stones keep wriggling away. If we are going to be placed into the structure which God has chosen as his dwelling, we must lay down our lives. Simply put, we must seek kingdom activity first above our hobbies, our careers, and even our families.
You might respond, “Hey, be realistic, we all have to make a living and raise our kids and stuff.” I suppose that is true but Jesus didn’t seem to care about that. He told us that we shouldn’t worry about our livelihood or even the preservation of our lives but rather seek God’s kingdom first and these things will be added to us. I’m sure working a job and loving our families comes under the heading of life in the kingdom but it can’t come before life in the kingdom.
We must settle in our minds that we’re here for one thing – the advance of God’s kingdom on this earth. Once we get this truth, we’ll stop trying to mitigate the church’s demands on our time and start just sharing life. When we join Christ in his mission to redeem the world, we automatically make the church our priority. When we exalt our own agenda (happy family, financial security, vocational success, personal comfort) above his, then the church becomes a nuisance. Which one is it for you?