Christian Living

---

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

BUILDING WELL
Foundations. All afternoon I have been thinking about how tentative basement structures can be.

I know all about basements. I live in an extremely old farmhouse. We call these hand-dug, outdoor-entranced caves, cellars. My particular cellar floor is bedrock and dirt. It is low-ceilinged and damp. The wood beams have rotted over time. They have been sistered with newer wood beams and are supported by rusting iron posts. It flooded in the ice storm of 1998 when my pipes burst and was pumped in below zero weather by a local fire department. Besides housing spiders and mice, it has welcomed, with its wide-stretched, broken doors, skunks, squirrels and cats from time to time. So, cellars, I have learned, can be unpredictable, shaky and dirty. And broken.

Jesus teaches us about building on a solid foundation. "Why do you call me , 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears My words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete" (Luke 6:46-49).

When we call out to the Lord, no, more, when we MAKE HIM LORD of our lives, we are making a true and real commitment to follow Him. That means that we build a slow and careful foundation based on the Word and obedience to it. Jesus tells us that the person who builds on a firm foundation is truly digging in deep and standing firm. So firm, in fact, that when trials come, when those floods of life that could overwhelm hit, we "will not be shaken" (Psalm 16:8). Because He is the bedrock of our faith, we are firmly set in.

Those who build on the shifting sands of the world's offerings, will crumble in a heap, being destroyed by the trials of life. And, I have indeed found this to be true. There are those who search for truth in every single rabbit hole, darkened cave and popular phase, phrase and tidbit thrown at them, the lowing cattle of the masses. They run around with empty hearts and a hopelessness so immense that it bends them low. The devastation I have often witnessed, with even the smallest of trials, shakes their shabbily constructed and shallow foundations to the core.

One of my Bible commentaries states, "As character is revealed by fruit (see Luke 6:43-45), so faith is revealed by storms." If our character is built on a foundation of Jesus Christ, we will not crack and crumble with the floods of life. 1 Cor. 3:10 confirms this, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Build well and with care.

c 01/06/2010 M. LaPointe

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE