Crushed and Rebuilt

Scripture Texts: Mark 14:43-65; Psalm 14

Jesus is on trial before the religious leaders and they are having trouble getting their story straight. One of the accusations against him is about destroying the temple and then rebuilding it in three days. This was something Jesus actually said, but they could not get their witnesses to agree.

It is fascinating they were not even able to convict him with the words that he used. Those words are important for us to remember. Many that day thought he was talking about the physical building, however we have the advantage of looking back and realizing Jesus was talking about himself. He would be crushed by death and then be rebuilt to new life after three days.

Have you ever had that feeling of being crushed and rebuilt? If so you are in good company. If not, you just might not have noticed it. There are times, seasons, in our lives when it seems like everything is falling apart. As the season passes we begin to realize for as much as we felt crushed by that season, we now have been rebuilt.

Marriages can go through the same process. Not that every marriage should or needs to go through a difficult season, it simply seems like that happens. We certainly have had some challenging seasons. Time could be spent telling of the difficulties we have encountered, from one of us struggling to keep everything together, to how we have simply struggled because of the events that have happened around our lives. Regardless, we have had times when our marriage had some struggles.

On the other side of those struggles we have felt rebuilt. Not only rebuilt but stronger than before. When Jesus, the temple, was rebuilt he was stronger as death no longer had victory. The same is true of a marriage when it is rebuilt with the very Spirit and hands of God. The challenge is our willingness to go through the struggle and not give up. The only way we experience being rebuilt is if we persevere through the struggle.