Tony Elder, Author/Pastor

When some of our younger grandchildren were at our house recently, at one point they pulled out a bag of building blocks to play with. As several of them constructed towers, trains, and robots, our youngest grandchild had a different idea. As a toddler, he wasn’t very good at putting the blocks together. So his enjoyment came in constantly destroying what the others were trying to build. When he wasn’t being restrained from carrying out his mission, everyone had to be on guard to protect their projects from his clutches. One of the more humorous sights on that occasion was to see the toddler chasing one of his cousins throughout the house as that youngster was desperately holding onto his building project to keep it from getting torn apart.

Do we tend to be people who build up or those who tear down? There is an appropriate place and time for both activities. In that familiar passage in the Bible that talks about there being a time and season for everything, it affirms that there is “a time to break down, and a time to build up” (Ecclesiastes 3:3). Sometimes bad, inappropriate, or simply outdated things need to be torn down. In some cases they need to be removed in order to build something better. And we may find ourselves in positions of authority in which we need to be the ones to expose such matters and to offer correction in relation to such things in people’s lives which need to be removed. However, too many people have appointed themselves to be the ones who tear down. Some of them even seem to take as much pleasure in doing so as our young grandson did in dismantling the creations of his siblings and cousin. In many situations, the tearing down is better left in the hands of God. He is better able to judge not only the behavior of people, but their spirit and motives. Generally, we should leave the convicting of sin and carrying out of judgment to Him, while we can be there to help pick up the pieces and assist with the rebuilding.

The Bible advocates more for the act of building up as being our main concern and mission as followers of Jesus, especially when it comes to our relationship with fellow believers. Some translations use a form of the word “edify” to convey that truth. “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are also doing” (I Thessalonians 5:11). “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification” (Romans 15:2). We need to be concerned about and actively seeking to edify or build up others.

Even those in leadership, those who may need to correct and rebuke at times, ought to keep edification in mind as the main goal. “And He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). Even when the Apostle Paul was disciplining a church, he saw the ultimate aim being to build up, not to destroy. “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction” (II Corinthians 13:10).

Let’s not be those people who are best known for tearing down others. Let’s not be the ones people dread to see heading their way or entering their church doors because they are known more for their harsh judgmentalism and their tendency to cause division rather than for their love and unity. Let’s be the encouragers and the builders who are helping others grow in their faith.