As I grew and my height continued upwards of 6 feet, my feet grew proportionately. At 14 I was wearing a size 12 and I remember one day my Grandad looked at my growing feet and commented, “a good man needs a good foundation.” Tru Dat Grandad. If you really think about it, life is all about good foundations. Any good home starts with a proper and solid foundation. Without it, a home will suffer major problems in the future. Problems that will be costly and time consuming to correct. Any great skyscraper first starts not with the architects and engineers designing the glass and steel exterior, but in figuring the complexities of the foundation. In order for one hundred stories to be stacked on top of another, they must all have a solid, dependable foundation. Staying here on Cozumel you quickly notice the importance of not just the foundation but the material of the foundation. In an area where hurricanes can quickly bring their wrath, the foundation must not only be true, but strong. Even the interior walls of our hotel are concrete. A good foundation must be built to withstand the tests that are brought against it.
But beyond building projects, other things need good foundations as well. A car needs a good frame to sit upon, a chair needs sturdy legs to support its sitter, and even trees rely upon a sturdy structure of roots to hold their height in the wind. But I have a question for you. What about a life? Yes, a life. What kind of foundation should a life expect? If all other inanimate objects in this world need a solid dependable foundation in order to function properly, then what about a human life?
You see, the life of every single person that is alive today, does indeed require a good foundation. Without a good foundation, a life will falter just as a home with a poor foundation will. When the tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes of life surface, will that life’s foundation be able to endure the tension and stress they present, or will they crumble beneath the storms of adversity? But where does that foundation come from and how is it established?
Some would say that your foundation lies within yourself. That through sheer determination, grit, and motivation you will be able to power through this life, utilizing just your own strength. Some would say that your foundation lies within your family. That your parents, siblings, and extended family give you all the foundation you will ever need. Some would say that their spouse will offer them all the foundation they need to endure the storms of life. The list could go on and on. A life can indeed be founded on many things.
Today we see the beginnings of the construction of the first great temple of God. David wanted desperately to build a house for God, but God would not allow it. David was a man of war for God, his hands had shed much blood for God and the Israelite kingdom. As a result, God had a different man in mind to build His house. But that didn’t stop David from assembling most of the materials for the temple. So David, unable to build, commissioned his son Solomon to do the building. And build Solomon does.
We see Solomon using the excess fortune that God has provided the kingdom of Israel, to start amassing the remainder of the raw building materials for the temple. The choicest cedar and cypress timber from Lebanon. Cut and processed by the finest wood workers in the entire kingdom, the Sidonians. Solomon also quarried the finest, most expensive stone in the land, harvested by only the finest stonecutters. And it is here we will find our study verse.
“The king specified that large, expensive stones be quarried so the foundation of the Temple could be laid with cut stones.” 1 Kings 5:17
Solomon ordered the finest stone from the finest quarry. He had the stones extracted by the finest stoneworkers. He then had them cut into perfect shape by the nation’s finest masons. I’ve seen examples of ancient mason’s work, where the seams of 10-ton stones were so accurate you could not even insert a credit card into the joint a thousand years later. Amazing. And ponder this point. All of this expense, labor, time, and effort went into a part of the project that would never even be seen. Why all this trouble and great expense to lay a foundation that human eyes will never see?
We are given much parallel in God’s Word to the importance of the foundation of a life. A life must be built upon something sturdy and dependable. Something impenetrable. A life must be built upon something that will last. Something that will withstand countless tempests of countless days. A life must be built upon something that is stronger than itself, stronger than others, and stronger than this world. And most importantly, a life must be built upon truth. A life must be founded upon the principle of pure and absolute truth. A level of truth that cannot be attained on our own. Folks, there is only one that can offer a life the foundation it truly needs…Jesus Christ.
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, whoever believes will not act hastily.” Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, 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 sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built 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 its fall." Matthew 7:24-27
You can build your life upon a myriad of things today. Money, pride, achievement, accolades, materialism, sex, alcohol, or ego. You can build it upon yourself, your spouse, your kids, your family, or your friends. You can build your life upon modern ideals and movements, human logic, politics, or current day interpretive science. But friends, they will all let you down. They will all disappoint. You see every man and woman that walks this Earth is destined to sin and disappoint. Every idea that stems from a man or woman is laced with enough sin to miss the mark of pure truth. There is but one foundation today that can offer a life the pure truth, grace, mercy and peace it was built to enjoy. And that foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ.
If your house is falling today because you have built on the sand, you need to look at your foundation. You need to build upon the Rock. You need to build your life upon the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Simply look into your heart and realize that your selfish, sinful decisions have led you to form a foundation that is faulty. Admit to Jesus that you have made mistakes and you need His guidance, leadership and wisdom as the foundation for your life. Ask Him to come and inhabit your heart and be the Lord of your life. For He is the only way to an eternal home in Heaven. Salvation through Jesus is a gift, all you must do is claim the gift. I pray you claim it today.
Today, I pray your foundation is built on nothing less than the Rock of Jesus Christ. For it is there and only there that you will find a foundation that stand the tests of all time.
God’s Blessings to you from Cozumel, Mexico.
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