“Challenge Monday #2
-The Foundation”
Recently I have found this analogy hanging out in my head.
In the gospel it talks about the man who built his house on the sand and the man who built his house on the solid rock.
More specifically, it was in the book of Matthew
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
-Matthew 7.24-27
This is a good visual.
…Unless you have trouble picturing what the sand is supposed to be.
I mean, I think of a random assortment of problems to throw in there to act like the sand but half of them don’t really apply to my current state of life.
Then I got to thinking, maybe I’m the sand.
Not my problems, but me.
Afterall, any of the problems, bad relationships, habits or addictions in my life are started or fed by me aren’t they?
Shouldn’t I assume the responsibility?
(Um… yeah. Pretty sure that’s a big “yeah”)
So I think I want to run with this for the second “Challenge Monday” (which I may change the name of. Sounds kind of cheesy, right? “Challenge Monday”. What is this, Teen Nick?)
So, here it is.
Number 2 challenge is to understand this:
YOU are not meant to be your life’s foundation. God is.
You wouldn’t make a good foundation for a house, would you?
If I laid you out, flat on the ground, the only thing I could pile on top of you and leave for a long amount of time without damage would be feathers… or pillows… or maybe some kind of freak combination of the two.
I couldn’t stack bricks, they would crush you.
I couldn’t start doing drywall.
I couldn’t lay down concrete for a ground and if I did, it wouldn’t be a smooth or large enough surface. And do you honestly think you could survive the electrical work or plumbing? How’d ya like to house a septic tank?
Think you’d enjoy some paint fumes?
And where would I park the car? If I’m going through the trouble to build a whole HOUSE, you’d better believe I’m building a garage, too! (a 2-car garage, at least)
Even if I could somehow manage to build walls and a ceiling, the building wouldn’t be wide enough to fit anything inside. Even if you were 7 ft tall, which is exceptionally tall for a person, it would be a very crammed space to try to fit into. How do I throw a housewarming party in a 7 foot long house?
How do I bring in furniture?
How do I bring in a family?
How could it work?
It’s the same thing in our spiritual lives.
We can’t be the foundation. For many reasons.
We are not strong enough.
We’re not tough enough.
We’re not consistent enough.
We’re not vast enough.
And neither is anyone else.
Not your best friend.
Not your spouse.
Not your children.
Not your boss.
Not a lover.
Not an enemy.
No life worth having can be built upon a person…
Not on ourselves. Not on other people.
I’m so glad my God is stronger than steel.
More graceful than snowfall.
Tougher than a lumberjack.
Steadier than the plains.
More vast than the sea.
And what makes it even better is that His good plans are for me.
What’s your foundation?
Let the Revival Begin.
