“He [Hiram] cast two bronze pillars. Each one was twenty-seven feet high and required a cord of eighteen feet to reach around it. He made two capitals of cast bronze for the tops of the columns. They were each seven and a half feet high…Above the round-shaped part and next to the network were two hundred pomegranates. These were placed in rows around both of the capitals on top of the columns.” – 1 Kings 7:15-16, 20
Faithfulness is found in the details.
When Solomon was building the Temple, one of the builders on the project was a man named Hiram, an exceptionally skilled bronzesmith from the region of Tyre. Hiram’s work included work on the Temple itself and many of its furnishings and decorative items.
Hiram constructed two massive pillars, each approximately 35 feet tall. The pillars greeted visitors to the Temple, standing on either side of the entrance. While the pillars themselves are impressive –35 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference – it is another, much smaller element that is interesting to notice. Atop each of these sizeable pillars were two hundred pomegranates made of bronze—four hundred bronze pomegranates, sitting on top of 35-foot tall pillars at the entrance of the Temple.
Who would notice these pomegranates as they came to worship in the Temple? No one. Who would see the work and attention to detail in crafting them? No one. But Hiram still made them – all four hundred of them. Hiram was as faithful in this small, unseen detail as in every other aspect of his work.
This story of the pomegranates speaks directly to our call as disciples. The life of discipleship requires faithfulness in both large and small details. To be a disciple is sometimes to work and serve in ways and places that go unnoticed by the eyes of the world. Our pomegranates are as important as our pillars in the places where we work and serve. In following the example of Christ and the leading of the Spirit, we are called to give our lives in service to the one who laid down his life for us.
Faithfulness is found in the details.
God, Creator of the universe and Architect of our lives, we ask for the wisdom and discernment to serve you faithfully in every detail of our lives. We ask this not seeking the praise of those we encounter but for your name’s sake and for Your glory. We ask this, humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jay Locklear is a member of the Conference Communications Team