Hello friends -- I know that this blog is a little longer than usual, but I guess I just had a lot to say this time around. Either way, I hope that you are blessed, and if it is too long, please say so

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It’s a very confusing thing when you spend your entire life trying to please others. The formation of your identity becomes less about yourself, and more about whom others want you to be. For a perpetual people pleaser, such as myself, I became a person of multiple personas, but no real identity. I was the straight-A student, the obedient child, the pseudo-intellectual, the loner, the anorexic, the meth user, the obedient wife, and eventually, the porn star. The outside and manufactured facade contradicted who I was deep inside.  I deeply craved attention, yet I was a “loner.” I was deeply hurting, yet I appeared “strong.” I seemed grounded, but was lonely; seemed introspective, but was vacuous. I had deep desires and longings, yet I shared them with nobody. Rather, I made it seem like things were okay by keeping up my grades and being “good.” I suppose some people thought I had it together, soft-spoken and well-behaved, but far from it.

I was occupied with what everybody wanted me to be, but as for the Lord, well, He was pretty much an afterthought….even at church. To Him, I was the prodigal daughter who didn’t really think about Him all that much, and acknowledged Him even less. I was socially confused, and spiritually ignorant. I had no idea who I was, and I became defined by what I thought people wanted from me. What a way to live!!

So here I am, 38 years old, and just now beginning to figure out who I am. Sometimes, I feel pathetic, but most of the time, I feel lucky. I could have lived my life and died without ever finding out who I was, and without finding the one who showed me – Jesus Christ, my precious Lord and Savior. In Acts 17:28, the apostle Paul says that in Him, we live and move and have our being. In ....Col..... 2:10, it says that we are complete in Him. I vehemently must agree with Paul on both of these points. It seems like the more I come to know Jesus, the better I know myself. I am even beginning to understand the confused mess that I used to be, and why I was like that. I have been to 3 psychologists in my life. I was medicated and analyzed, and none of it has been able to shake the foundation and bring the truth crashing down like the Lord has.

I spent the majority of my life, especially my childhood, filled with deep insecurity and self-loathing. Having no real family to cling to, and next to no friends, I felt disconnected and ungrounded. I had trouble forming connections with people….partly out of fear, and partly out of ignorance. I guess I just didn’t know how to connect, so I pretty much isolated myself. I opened up to no one, and for the most part lived my life in shadow – a recluse inside of myself. As I grew older, I gained more friends, but I still had trouble forming connections, even when I was married….still as insecure as ever.

I guess you could say that I have been on a perpetual quest to “find myself,” and my place in life. I tried anything and everything that I was offered, and in the process lost myself. Just when all hope had faded into an illusion, I turned to Christ, and He brought me home. I never dreamed that I could find such acceptance and love. Not only that, but He has given me a new name, and is teaching me who I am in Him. I still don’t know who I am to become, but I know who I am now, and that is huge.

For one thing, I am no longer defined by my past. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us that  if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. We no longer have to be bound by our past, even though we may have things we need to deal with. We no longer identify with the past, because it no longer defines us. For example, before I was saved, among other things, I was a perpetual liar. I lied to myself, to those around me, and to those who watched me on film, telling them how much I enjoyed porn. I called it “embellishing,” but I think we know better than that. Now that I am in Christ, I am no longer a liar, not because I don’t lie anymore, but because that is not where my identity is. Even if I were to tell a lie, Jesus still doesn’t consider me to be a liar, because that is no longer who I am. That was a huge truth for me to grasp, and tricky, because there have been times where I have been tempted in certain areas. I know…it is natural to want to identify with your shortcomings and weaknesses, but it’s so empowering knowing that this is not how Jesus sees you. I love this scenario described by Paul:

Rom. 7:19, 20: For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil that I will not to do, I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me

I love how Paul makes it a point NOT to identify with the sin that still resides in him, saying “it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Paul isn’t saying that he didn’t make the decision to sin, but that sin is not what he desires to live out. He desires to live out his new identity in Christ, but even with that desire, he still lives in his flesh – his “body of death,” as he puts it in Rom. 7:24.  

He also exhorted the Corinthians not to identify with those sins that once defined them:

1 Cor. 6:11:  And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God

The Corinthians spoken of in this verse were very carnal Christians, and no doubt still sinned, but even so, Paul says that is who they used to be…they were no longer identified as such.

NOTE: For those of you reading this who might be struggling with porn, I just want to say that Christ no longer sees you as a porn addict, but as sanctified and beloved, so don’t let the enemy con you into thinking that you are still that old man. God loves you, and wants to help you, but you need to let go of the old sin, because that is not who you are anymore. Just because you are tempted doesn’t mean you are defined by that temptation, so you DO NOT have to give into it. God’s strength is sufficient for you.

Eph. 4:20-24 instructs us that we are to put off the old man and put on the new man, which was created according to God. Col. 3:8 tells us that we are renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Christ. That is where our new identity lies, in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is working inside of us to bring about this creation, because it is a process, and it doesn’t just happen overnight.

I was talking to a friend a while back, and she was telling me, regarding the Lord transforming her, “I don’t even know who I am sometimes.” I could totally relate to this. I know who I am in the Lord, but sometimes, it’s as though I don’t recognize myself, not just because of my desire to sin leaving, but because God is literally restructuring me. He is taking all of my past hurts, my loneliness, my insecurities, and literally transforming me into a confident woman of God. I still have light years to go, and some days I feel at a standstill, not progressing at all, but as I look back over the landscape of the past few years, I realize how far I have come, and how much I have changed. Some days, old memories and hurts will break through the filter, and I just don’t have the energy or the wherewithal to deal. I just don’t know how. That’s when I realize that I must surrender them to God, and allow Him to work them out for me. I can’t just ignore them, because I wouldn’t learn, but I do need to give them to God so that He can continue to transform me.

That leads to my second point – how to look upward rather than inward…to Christ rather than to myself. This helps to confirm who I truly am in Him. In fact, the more I look to Him, the more confident I am, not in me, but in Him. Paul said, in ....Rom..... 7:18: for I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. Indeed!! I know that inside, I am a confused, insecure, and unstable mess. I cannot even make sense of myself….why would look there for any answers?

Ps. 139:1-3:  O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

I know that inside, I am also a sinner in desperate need of a new identity. When you realize this, there is nowhere to look but up. Hebrews 12:2 says look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. This is humility – turning your attention away from yourself and placing it on Jesus. Anything else is self-centeredness, which can take various forms in the spectrum of human condition, from pride and arrogance to depression, low self-esteem, and self-hatred. The in-between simply correlates to one’s level of ego. This was my problem for so many years -- insecurity and low self-esteem -- and my giving nature was a subconscious attempt to win the approval of others. Pleasing them in turn pleased me. It was an ego boost. I even entered the porn industry for this reason – to gain my husband’s approval. By my distorted rationale, love and approval were things to be earned. I didn’t realize that it was self-centeredness, but that is what it all boiled down to…had I understood that, I probably would have hated myself even more. A person who hates herself isn’t necessarily prideful, but is certainly self-centered, as it is all about self-image….how bad you are, how undeserving, how unworthy….and how people feel about you sort of takes the focus away from how bad you feel about yourself.

The crux of the matter is, though, it’s not how you feel about yourself, but about who you are in Christ. The Bible says that the human heart is desperately wicked. If my feelings were the barometer by which I measured my relationship with Jesus, then I’d be off most of the time. Feelings fluctuate, and are flighty. Introspection is only good insomuch as you have the Holy Spirit inside of you.

We are self-destructive creatures by nature, because of that old sinful flesh. What I am learning is how to take the focus off of me (abstaining from self-centeredness) and putting it on Christ. I guess you could say that finding yourself in Jesus is actually dying to yourself.

I know that I am just beginning to understand who I really am in Jesus. He has become such a part of who I am, that I couldn’t even imagine who I’d be without Him, except perpetually lost and confused.

One of the greatest obstacles that I have encountered in my Christian walk is this lack of faith. It’s a strange thing, because I read the Bible, and believe each and every word that it says, but when it comes to incorporating those promises into my own life, I find that I fall very short. It’s this perpetual dichotomy within me -- I want to believe, but still I worry, and it leaves me feeling inadequate. I want to have complete and unconditional faith, but it’s as though some part of me is holding back.  

A couple of months ago, I was reading through the Psalms, and I stumbled upon this gem. This had a huge impact on me, and gave me a deeper understanding of the nature of faith, confidence in the Lord, and the reality of His unwavering faithfulness:

Psalms 130:5  

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits

And in His word I do hope

My soul waits for the LORD

More than those who watch for the morning -

Yes, more than those who watch for the morning

The thing that really popped out at me here was the last stanza:

My soul waits for the Lord

More than those who watch for the morning

When a soldier stands watch at night, which is what this verse is referring to, he is not standing watch to make sure that the sun will rise…he is standing watch until the sun rises. There is absolutely no doubt in his mind that the sun will rise. In the same regard, when you go to bed at night, there is little doubt that the sun will come up in the morning. In fact, that thought never even crosses your mind, because it would be pretty ridiculous to worry about such a thing. You just go to bed and wait for the morning.

King David had stood watch many times. I’m sure he saw countless sunrises, but even so, he had more confidence, more assurance, in the Lord than he did in the rising of the sun. This is powerful!!! With this statement, he expressed absolute certainty that God would fulfill His word. All he had to do was to wait upon Him. David had 2 reasons to trust God: God’s faithfulness in the past, and the very nature of God, with which David was acquainted with most intimately.

Unlike King David, I still tend to worry about things that God promised He would take care of. Why is that? We are not supposed to worry about the sun rising, nor are we supposed to worry about God acting on His word. It’s a fact…..God has spoken, and He will honor His word.

Moreover, David says it twice:

More than those who watch for the morning-

YES, more than those who watch for the morning

This is an emphatic statement. The Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart, which says to me that this is the kind of faith that God also wants us to have.

Another thing that stands out to me is the analogy of being watchful. When a soldier stands watch, he is on guard and aware. He is not slumbering and sitting by idly. He has an acute awareness of all that is going on around him. Not only are we to be expectantly waiting for the Lord, but we are to be on guard and aware, watching what is going on around us until God moves, but with the confident expectation that He will move.

In the first stanza of this Psalm, David says:

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits

And in His word I do hope

There is another psalm that talks about waiting on the Lord.

Psalm 37:7 – Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him

I just love how this verse uses the phrase resting in the Lord. What does it mean to rest in the Lord? All throughout the Scriptures, we see how God identifies Himself as our rest. Because He is our rest, we are to be anxious for nothing…..resting in the Lord while we are waiting on Him. Not only will God come through for us, but God will give us rest as we are patiently waiting for Him. So then, faith is not only believing in His promises, but also resting in them.

I really think that when we have truly and completely come to terms with the reality of God’s character and nature...His absolute and unwavering faithfulness….that we can truly rest in His promises, and in Him. Sometimes I think that we have a tendency to doubt God, and I think that stems from our skeptical human nature. We don’t intend to doubt God, but it’s just in our flesh….just as Eve doubted God when she took the fruit.

A lot of us don’t have a really intimate grasp of God’s nature -- His faithfulness, lovingkindness, and mercy – and if we doubt His character, I think it’s easy also to doubt His word. We think that somehow, He will fail us, or that He may not have our best interests at heart. We doubt the promises of others, because people have let us down….but it should not be like that with God. God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent (Num. 23:19).

I find it interesting that David hopes in God’s word. In Psalm 138:2, He says:

I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

God esteems His own word very highly, and David knew this. It’s in God’s word that he hopes, because he knows how sacred God holds His own word. It is reliable. It’s a hope of expectation, too. The New Testament calls it eagerly waiting:

Rom. 8:25 – But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance

Gal. 5:5 – For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith

Phil. 3:20 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

Heb. 9:28 – To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation

Basically, everything that Christ said in His word He will do, and we are to eagerly wait for Him to do so….to hope in His word, as King David did. King David was so sure that God would come through that He trusted in it more than the rising of the sun. Now that is faith!!!

It’s pretty amazing to think that God’s Word is even surer than the rising of the sun…but if you really think about it, it’s not all that difficult. In Mt. 24:35, Jesus said Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. There will come a day when the sun will not rise anymore…but there will never be a day when God won’t stay true to His word. In my mind, and in my heart, I know this, so then why is it so hard to live by faith?

Faith is a very complicated thing. It involves letting go of self entirely, including all of one’s defense mechanisms and coping mechanisms, and putting one’s full reliance in Christ. This is very difficult for someone whose life has been marked by let down after let down, and whose trust has been shattered time and time again. You start to form a pattern of not trusting others, and it takes a real work of the Spirit to break one of this.

Even so, God commanded that we trust Him. Heb. 11:6 tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Even if a person cerebrally understands the concept of God’s faithfulness, it’s not quite as easy to surrender oneself completely to that concept, because there is always that subconscious fear. This is why God’s continual faithfulness is so important. God does not have to work to prove Himself faithful to any of us, because that is just a part of His nature, so over time, trusting Him is inevitable. We all know that trust  is a matter of the will, but God is not asking us to trust Him in vain. We trust in God because He is faithful, not in case He is faithful; in other words, our trust is in His character, not just His word. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, God is faithful to His word.

Rom. 1:20    For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made

Here are some more verses about waiting on the Lord:

Psalm 27:7    

Wait on the Lord

Be of good courage

And He shall strengthen your heart

Wait, I say, on the Lord

Isaiah 40:31

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength

They shall mount up on wings as eagles

They shall run and not be weary

They shall walk and not faint

Lam. 3:25

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him

To the soul who seeks Him

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the LORD

PORNOGRAPHY AND THE LAW OF LOVE

If you were to ask a Christian why it is wrong to watch porn, that person would probably respond that it is because it creates lustful and impure thoughts. Some may respond that it is a form of adultery, as prohibited in Mt. 5:28. Others may respond that it is because we are to remain sexually pure in the sight of God, and pornography promotes fornication. While all of these reasons are certainly valid, I believe that the issue goes much deeper than that, and actually touches on the first and greatest commandment…..the one by which all other commandments hang, and by which Christ commanded that we live our lives and relate to others.

Mt. 22:36-40    Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him (Jesus) a question, testing Him, and saying “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

According to this verse, the most important law, the standard by which all of the other laws and commandments are judged, is the law of love, summarized in two laws: Love God, and love your neighbor. When the Pharisees asked Jesus to explain who our neighbor is, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, which illustrates that anyone around us, friend or foe, who is made in the image of God as we are – he or she is our neighbor.

So, then, our friends, our next-door neighbors, our co-workers….even those in the porn industry….Jesus considers to be our neighbors. Our fellow human beings are our neighbors, and we are expected to treat them with kindness and respect.

As Christians under the new covenant, we are no longer under law, but under grace. We are no longer required to abide by the letter of the law, but even so, we are still required to abide by the Spirit of the law, which is basically this law of love:

1 Cor. 3:6,13   (God) also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life…..Now the Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty

Gal. 5:13-14     For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself

....Rom..... 13:8-10    Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments…are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Everything that we do, how we treat other people, is to be determined by this perfect law of love, which is also called the law of liberty:

James 1:22-25  He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James 2:8  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the whole law as transgressors.

All of these Scriptures point to one truth – that if we are really Christians, and are truly abiding by God’s law, then everything we do will be governed by this perfect law of love. This is how we know that we are truly following God’s law – if we think of others the way God thinks of them, and treats them the way the Lord treats them.

Jesus said that all of the commandments hang on this one, and that if you’ve broken one commandment, you’ve broken all of them. Basically, if you violate this law of love, then you’ve violated all of the commandments.

So, then, how does one define this law of love? Basically, love is looking out for the best interests and needs of others, to care about them and be concerned for their welfare. 1 John 3:17 tells us that if we see our brother in need, and shut up our heart from him, that the love of God does not abide in us. So, then, love is a genuine concern for others. Romans 13:10 tells us that love does no harm to another. Likewise, love does not take advantage of others, and stands up for their humanity.

If you look at the porn industry – I mean seriously and honestly look at it – You can see how what goes on is the complete antithesis of this kind of respect and love. Porn does great harm to people on so many levels…It completely dehumanizes them, and robs them of their dignity.

If you’ve read any of the testimonies on the Pink Cross website, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I know the kind of damage, because I was one of those people. There is no love in the porn industry. Pornography degrades, dehumanizes, and uses people, and just because those people choose to be in the industry doesn’t mean that they are not being hurt, or that we should condone their abuse. The girls in the industry are manipulated, abused, and taken advantage of (I speak as a female from a female POV), and to watch pornography is, in a way, a perpetuation of this abuse.

As Christians, we are to practice love, as Christ practiced it. Love is looking out for the welfare of others, and in this respect, porn is a direct violation of this law of love. It’s impossible for the love of Christ and the love of porn to dwell in a person’s heart simultaneously, especially if that person is aware of the abuses that go on in the porn industry. No one who loves Christ should want to watch the degradation of others.

1 John 3:18   Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. And by this we shall know we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him

Oswald Chambers writes: The springs of love are in God, not in us. The love of God is only in us when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and the evidence that is there is the spontaneous way it is manifested….We have to dedicate ourselves to love, which means identifying ourselves with God’s interests in other people. (My Utmost Devotional Bible, pp. 113)

I guess what I’m saying is that in order to practice love as Christ practiced it, we must have the Holy Spirit working in us. It is the Holy Spirit which allows us to follow the Royal Law of Love the way that God intends. The Bible says that He guides us into all truth – not just truth in doctrine, but also in action.

If we truly love others the way that Christ loves them, I can’t imagine that we could get any sort of enjoyment out of watching them being degraded and abused, unless of course we deny that they are being degraded, which is to deny the truth. Pornography feeds on the degradation and abuse of women. If a person loves Jesus, then he/she must also love others, which means that person cannot watch porn and still be abiding by the law of love that Christ commanded us to live by.

The thing about porn is that it’s so easy to get sucked into the fantasy and lose sight of the fact that the people onscreen are made in the image of God, and are our neighbors, and that their human dignity is being stripped away. At first glance, porn may seem glamorous and harmless, but if you really look deeply and honestly at it, past all of the make-up and scripted lines and contrived orgasms, you’ll see that at it is a dehumanization of others that goes against everything that Christ commanded us to be as Christians.

So lately, I’ve been going through the epistles of Peter. God has really been speaking to me through these epistles, and so I’ve decided to just share some of the things that God has placed on my heart . The first I’ve already posted, with the previous blog regarding the church. This second blog has to do with holiness, and what God expects from us in thought and in deed.

1 Peter 1:14-16   As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy

1 Peter 2:11,12  Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation

The Trump Tower is one of the most famous hotels in New York City. It stands 58 stories high, the tallest structure of this type in New York City when completed. When we think of the Trump Tower, we automatically think of Donald Trump, who financed the design and construction of it.

Most people, when looking at it, would not say “Wow, look at that fabulous hotel that the guys at Joe’s Construction (or whoever built it) put together.” No – we would automatically think of Donald Trump, and say “Wow, look at this fabulous hotel that Donald Trump built.” After all, he was the one who financed, organized, and spearheaded the project, and even though he hired other people out to build it, it is his hotel, and his name is on it

I thought of this as I was reading 1 Peter 4:10,11: As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers let him do it as with the ability which God supplies

Here, Peter is speaking about spiritual gifts as they are used in the church. The Bible describes the church as God’s temple, and His people as the stones that comprise that temple (1 Peter 2:5).

Notice what the verse points out: It is GOD who supplies the ability. Even though God uses people to carry out His work, it's ultimately His building, and He supplies the materials (abilities) for the work to be carried out -- just as a businessman supplies all the materials necessary for a general contractor to carry out the work, but it is ultimately the businessman’s project.

It occurred to me that a lot of times, we see what goes on at church, and we automatically focus on the people rather than God. We hear the sermon on Sunday morning, and we think what a great job the pastor did in expositing the Scriptures, or we see the worship team praising the Lord, and we think about how great they sounded. This is somewhat natural, but the Bible reminds us the church is God’s handiwork, and that we are merely instruments. It’s so easy to look at the different ministries, and have our attention automatically focus to the people rather than God, but the Bible says that we are to be mindful of who it is that actually builds up the church.

Just like we wouldn’t look at the Trump Tower, and think about the guys he hired to build it; likewise, when we look at the goings-on of a church, we are to look at the master builder, Jesus Christ. We are to focus on how He is working through His people, and give glory to Him, rather than focusing only on the people themselves.

Moreover, 1 Cor. 12:11 tells us: But one and the same Spirit works all things, distributing each one individually as He wills

God not only supplies the materials necessary to build His house, but He also distributes those materials necessary for His work to be carried out. Not only is God in charge of construction, but also administration, namely of spiritual gifts. The worship team, the Sunday school teachers, the pastors – they are all stewards of what God supplies to them. It is God working through them, rather than their own talents or efforts.

1 Cor. 4:7   For what makes you different from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

I love how Eph. 2:20-22 lays out how the church is put together: having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit

It basically reminds us that, not only is God supplying the materials necessary to build the church, but He is also shaping us and refining us as individual stones to fit together perfectly for the work that He has for us.

When Solomon built the temple, there was no mortar used to hold the stones together, but each stone had to be individually and precisely hewn and shaped so that they all fit together perfectly, with no gaps between the stones. That’s sort of how Jesus working in our lives – individually, He is shaping and molding us, so that we fit together perfectly with one another as a unit. He is refining us individually as stones, and gifting us as ministers.

I just love the thought of Jesus Christ as the Master Builder.