The word edify means to build
up. It’s a Latin word “build;” our
English word is “edifice.” If we are to
act like a Christian, we should build up the faith of others (Romans 14:19).
Christian Ethics asks the question: How can I help you to grow? Now, we are not talking about walking around arrogantly, holier than thou, or with a “better than” attitude. What can we do to edify each other?
1. Live with integrity before others
(practice what you preach).
2. Be faithful to God and to the
house of God.
3. Use your spiritual gifts (found in
Romans 12:4-8).
4. Pray for others.
5. Be a student of God’s Word.
Remember, there are two kinds of
believers in the world: Christian & unChristian. Those who are Christian want to edify
you. Now, we are not talking about a
false flattery but each doing unto others as we would have them do to us. Those who are unethical tear down.
Remember, it’s much easier to destroy than to build, but God desires that we be builders.
A Builder or a Wrecker
As I watched them tearing a
building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell
They swung a beam and a side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled
As the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
O Lord let my life and my labor be
That which will build for eternity!”
So let me encourage each of us to be Christian with edification.
✞ Edify others by edifying the Lord.
