Just at the end of March 2025, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the ricter scale hit Myanmar with devastating force. With a disaster of that size, the eyes of the world have naturally been fixated on the tension between civil war and the difficulty of getting humanitarian relief into the region. What we have almost neglected is the impact of the earthquake 1,000 kilometers away from its epicenter in the city of Bangkok in Thailand. There, at 12:50 pm when the earthquake struck, a 30-storey building under construction collapsed in an implosion of concrete and steel, killing more than 70 people who were working in it. Of course, it is not uncommon for buildings to collapse during earthquakes of this magnitude, but this tragedy is of specific concern because of the circumstances surrounding it. The city of Bangkok covers an area of 1,568 square kilometres (in comparison, Toronto is 630 sq km in size). At the time of the earthquake, there were at least 190 skyscraper construction projects in the city. Only one fell. Why only one, and why only this one? From the outside, the building looked beautiful and pristine. It was designated to house the offices of the government of Thailand. But beyond the surface, another story unfolds. What has been uncovered is that the multimillion dollar company in charge of this construction project under Chinese ownership had likely used substandard steel and concrete as building materials since 2024 as a cost-savings measure. Safety was sacrificed for ease; quality was sacrificed for cost. An examination of the wreckage and a record of eye witness accounts has yielded the persistent evidence of the building crumbling from inside out. Pillars exploded inwards as the building twisted and writhed into a tangled mess. No one inside survived.
It struck me that our spiritual lives are mirrored by lessons that this tragedy teaches us. Paul’s analogy comes to mind in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. He tells us that the believer’s salvation is found in Christ Jesus as the firm and unshakeable foundation. The question is not the veracity of the foundation but what we build our lives with. Paul characterizes these in two categories of building materials – “gold, silver and precious stones” and “wood, hay and stubble”. The first represents a life lived in the Word of God, marked by obedience and faithfulness, and filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. The second represents the sub-standard materials of spiritual complacency, a fruitless life and a neglect of God’s Word. From the outside, both seem rather nice and prestine until the testing of our lives takes place. The account of the life of Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission comes to the forefront. He was a physician. Along with his young wife and a team of doctors and their spouses, he set out to China to preach the gospel and to help with the provision of medical care. They had been there but for a few months, full of enthusiasm and hope, when the first doctor died of an unknown disease. Then another of the team collapsed and soon succumbed to illness. His team was cut down like wheat, one at a time. By the end of two months, his own wife passed away in his arms and Hudson Taylor was alone in the land where his heart so deeply desired for God. What happens when an earthquake rocks our world? With what spiritual materials are we built? Hudson Taylor, in the depth of his grief, wrote in his journal, “Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art. I am finding out the goodness of Thy loving heart.” He left China that same day, and came back two years later with a fresh team. And God gave him China as the church there began to grow (see Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets). In the weeks to come, if we pay close enough attention, we will hear what has been happening in faraway Thailand (for obvious reasons, China has been censoring the news). But instead of outrage at the use of condemned materials for a skyscraper, may I ask us to be reflective of the way we live in the building that stands on our salvation. If an earthquake should shake our lives, would we be left standing?
Just Church
At Just Church, our focus is on building on our salvation a life that is honouring to Christ – strong and earthquake-proof. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
