November 28, 2022 THE NECESSITY OF A GOOD FOUNDATION
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts upon them, shall be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall.”
Everyone knows that a building must have a good foundation if it is to stand the test of time. So it is with life; in order to withstand the storms of life, we must have a secure and firm foundation. Yet, it is so easy to go about life and all of our activities and not give much attention to the foundation that we are building upon. As Jesus so powerfully said, the rain, the floods, and the winds come in life, and he said we will experience trials in life. If we are going to survive the storms of life, and not only survive but overcome the storms, our foundation must be firm. There are numerous foundations that one may build on, such as intellect, material gain, self-determination and effort, a strong work ethic, reputation, success in the work place, and etc. However, these foundations will fail the test; there is only one foundation that will endure any and all storms, and that is Jesus, the chief corner stone. Ephesians 2:20-22. So, this all sounds good, for Jesus to be our foundation-but just how does that happen? I have no three easy steps as to how we have Jesus as our foundation, but can share a couple of thoughts that might help. As a starter, our heart must be turned to the Lord instead of being focused on pursuing my way. To have a spirit of seeking Him first is a must; if I am seeking Him, to know Him more fully, then it stands to reason that I would read and become familiar with His word. His word is the truth, and His word never fails. We must develop our though patterns, set our beliefs, and let our actions be built on His word; His word must be our guide. We must not build on the wisdom of man, but on the wisdom that comes from God; in His word we have access to the wisdom of God. We must see that keeping His word, obeying His commands leads to life. If we see keeping His word as being burdensome or robbing us of life, we are greatly mistaken. Crucial to all of this is to be keenly aware of the fact that the Spirit of God lives in us, enabling and empowering us to live life according to God’s design. Perhaps a good summary is to say that we can build on the unsecure foundation of the self-life, or we can build on the only secure foundation of Jesus. May our hearts be set on increasing in the knowledge of God, knowing that only He holds the keys to life. May it be our greatest joy, to follow the ways of the Lord.
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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