Yes, you and I are ‘KINGDOM BUILDERS.” In the Bible we read, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33, RSV) What does it take to be a KINGDOM BUILDER? First, it takes a great love of God, to come alive in our hearts and we need to get rid of all of our sin. Secondly, you and I need GREAT COURAGE, if we are going to build His Kingdom. “Be strong and let your heart take courage.” (Psalm 31:24, RSV)

We need men and women who are going to challenge the powerful people in our society. We have never ending wars. Our Pentagon continues to carry out our foreign policy. Military contractors make millions of dollars from our never ending wars. One of God’s commandments reads: “YOU SHALL NOT KILL.” (Exodus 20:13, RSV). Yes, we need courageous people.

Looking at the shepherds and wise men in our Bible, they kept searching for Jesus and finally found Him. They followed the star. In Matthew 2:2, we read, “We have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him,” The shepherds and wisemen kept searching for Jesus, until they found him, in a manager, in Bethlehem. In our lives, we, too, need to keep searching for Jesus.

In 1953, my wife and I were traveling back to Iowa, from seminary, and traveling through Marion, Ohio, on a rainy day. The windshield wipers were not working and so I stopped the car, in the heart of downtown Marion and when I got out of the car, our dog Ginger got out, too.

I got back in our car and on our way to Iowa and soon we found out that ginger was not with us. Celebrating Christmas with our two families, we were soon on our way back to Maryland. Stopping in Marion,Ohio, checking with the dog warden, we were told about a lost dog, that had been found and was in an office building, in a parking lot and so we went to that parking lot and called out for ginger.

We heard a dog yipping in this office building and it was ginger. We had found our lost dog. The moral of this story is that we must never give up in our search for Jesus.

Yes, you and I can become kingdom builders!

Chuck Grassley