As I watch as our world falls into chaos again and again I am reminded of the importance of having a firm foundation.
The men and women who fight everyday to protect countries truly believe in risking their lives for it. How many of us are willing to give up our lives for something we feel passionately about. We live in a world where it’s now considered acceptable to kneel for our national anthem, where believing in God, having morals and values is considered wrong, where standing up for a faith puts us at risk of being considered hateful and intolerant.
Proverbs 22:28 remind us “Don’t move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.” When we start messing around with our foundations, the whole structure shifts. And an unsteady structure is not a safe structure.
Think about it: The foundation is the more important part of our homes. Without a firm foundation, our homes are not safe. Any mistakes in the foundation will only get worse as it is built. The framing, the roof, and the rest of the structure will be completely shifted.
Just like our homes our foundations are important for several reasons.
- A firm foundation is important because storms will come.
In our homes, without a firm foundation, they would wash away when rain falls and storms blow. The same is true about our faith. We may think it doesn’t matter who or what we believe in, but when life’s storms come, we need strength and structure for our souls.
Jesus told us in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mind, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these saying of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who build his house on the sand and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was it’s fall.”
2. A firm foundation is important because our foundation is our core.
There’s a saying that goes “treat the cause, not the symptoms.” Without a firm foundation, we put ourselves at risk of all kinds of surface issues. An example is when we go to the doctor they want to treat the symptoms, not the root cause is the problem. If we don’t cure the root we just cover it up.
Just like mistakes in the foundation of a house, if we don’t have a firm foundation for our souls, we put ourselves at risk for bad influences to creep in.
Paul says in his letter to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:18-19, “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.” For example, if you’re trying to be healthy, you don’t just exercise. If you’re trying to improve your health, you start with what you eat, because the fuel you put into your body is more important than exercise. The same can be said about our spiritual life – It’s not just good works that matter, it what is in our soul that counts.
“You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure.”
From Pity to Praise 