Made for Forever · Day 6 of 14 · About 10 minutes

Gold or Stubble?

Some of what you build will last forever. Some won’t survive the fire.

Michael Kendrick · Scripture: King James Version

READ FIRST 1 Corinthians 3:10–15

Paul gives us a powerful picture of the Bema. Every believer is building a life on the same foundation — Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). But we get to choose our building materials: “gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble” (v. 12).

From the street, you can’t always tell the difference. Wood can look impressive. Hay piles up fast. Stubble covers a lot of ground cheaply. But one day, fire will test it all — and fire doesn’t care how big your pile is. It only cares what it’s made of.

The verse says the fire tests “of what sort” it is — not how much there is. A huge platform, a massive following, or a famous name can turn out to be hay. A quiet life of faithfulness can turn out to be pure gold.

What Survives the Fire?

Jesus gives us clues. Things done in secret for God: “thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:4). Things done in love — without love, Paul says, even huge sacrifices profit nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3). Even the smallest kindness done for His sake:

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. — Matthew 10:42 (KJV)

A cup of cold water! Jesus notices the small stuff. Gold isn’t about size. It’s about why and for whom. What burns? Things done for applause, for likes, to build our own name — even if they look spiritual.

Saved — But With Loss

Here’s the sobering part: “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). It’s possible to be truly saved but have little to show for your life — like someone escaping a burning house with only the clothes on their back. Safe, but with real loss.

The good news? You’re young. You have time to build with gold. And you don’t have to grade your own pile — that’s Jesus’ job (1 Corinthians 4:4–5). Your job is simply to keep building with what lasts, starting today.