Building something to last takes time, effort, intentionality. Building a physical house takes effort, building a family takes intentionality, building a church takes time. Everyone one of us has the currency called time, but how we spend the currency called time is seen in what we are building or not building. Just like with actually currency, there are people who are spenders with nothing to show for it and there are people who are hoarders but nothing to show for it. Time is a currency that is meant to be invested in building something that lasts. What are you building with your time?

Proverbs 24:3-4 says, “By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.” There are three notable stages in this passage, building, establishing and filling. Everyone loves the filling stage, but who is willing to invest in the building and establishing stage?

While I was listening to “Bob” on the Jack Daniel’s Distillery tour last Friday, he said, “Here at Jack Daniel’s we do not age our whiskey, we mature it. That is why we use the process we do.” I wrote that phrase down, knowing I did not want to forget it. Most people fear aging, but how many people are actually maturing? It takes maturity to build a house, establish a family, fill a life with precious things. The apostle Paul says in Hebrews 5:14, “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Maturity is not based on age, it is based on discernment.

I see us moving into a time of maturity for the body of Christ. God is restoring the five-fold ministry to the church for the very purpose of maturing the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:13 says, God gives us leaders to mature us, not entertain us. Our call is to mature so we are a perfect match for Jesus the Christ our head. God is changing the narrative in order to mature the body of Christ, for our God is a builder, establisher, filler and we are the corporate temple He is building.