What is the Foundation for Your Life?

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By Melissa McLaughlin

A Good Foundation

The moment we begin, we wonder how it will all turn out.

Each year, around Thanksgiving, my family makes gingerbread houses. With painstaking care, my mom rolls, cuts, and bakes the gingerbread dough by hand. We use gumdrops, M&Ms, licorice, and our imaginations to decorate the houses. Mom’s recipe includes a glue-like icing that holds it all together.

Sometimes the gingerbread houses look pristine when complete. Other years the roofs sag or the sides collapse, depending on humidity or factors unknown to us. Whenever we embark on this home-building venture, we never know how it will hold up in the end.

To strengthen our edible structures, my dad cut wooden boards to use as a foundation underneath. This helps anchor our gingerbread houses and provides stability for transport.

Similarly, any construction project in life depends on a good foundation.

A Foundation for Life

What about life itself? What is the foundation we need for life?

In Matthew 16:15-18, Jesus taught His disciples about the bedrock of our faith: He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

This passage highlights Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, the Son of the living God.

A Confession of Faith

As Christians, this confession of faith is the foundation for our lives.

Romans 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Acts 2:38 – Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Christ is our Foundation

Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t get to heaven by dying. No matter how good we may think we are, we are not good enough to enter heaven based on our own merits. Rather, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Salvation is a gift. And the possession of this gift is in the receiving.

As Christ’s followers, we then strive to live a life worthy of His name. Not to earn our way into heaven, but out of gratitude for the One who earned heaven for us.

Without this foundational belief in Christ, we are building straw houses, fragile and vulnerable to life’s storms. When we seek happiness in jobs, finances, family, relationships, education, health, or anything else, these can tumble down in a heartbeat.

With Christ as our foundation, the winds of this world may rage, but our houses stand firm.

To Believe in Christ is to Believe His Word

Adding to this foundation in Christ is the understanding that to believe in Jesus is to believe His Word. The Bible is God’s written Word and Jesus is God’s living Word.

• Jesus is the Word (John 1:1).
• Jesus taught that Scripture testifies about Him (John 5:39).
• Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures (Mark 14:49) (Luke 24:27).

A High View of Scripture

Do you have a high view of Scripture?

Jesus did.

• Jesus believed the Scriptures (John 17:17).
• Jesus quoted Scriptures (Matthew 4:1-11).
• Jesus taught the Scriptures (Luke 4:17-21).

To affirm His divinity and invite unbelievers to believe, Jesus called Scripture the “word of God” and declared that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:31-16).

Jesus authenticated Himself and the Scriptures. Old. Testament. Scriptures.

To believe in Jesus’ authority is to believe in the authority of Scripture.

What gives something authority? The author who stands behind it.

The Author of Scripture

Who is the Author of Scripture?

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

• God – Hebrews 4:12
• Jesus – Matthew 24:35
• Holy Spirit – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 2 Peter 1:21

Many false churches are teaching a false gospel today. Many deceptively teach a false Jesus who is made in our image, who bows down to our words, and who encourages us to believe culture over Scripture. These false teachers avoid mention of Jesus’ holiness or teaching about hell. (Matthew 5:48) (Matthew 10:28).

Sadly these people have been led astray by a low view of Scripture and a low view of Jesus. If you know someone caught in this devil’s snare, please pause and pray for them right now.

An Unshakable Foundation

Let us remember, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father.

May we be found faithful and true.

May we bow the knee today.

To Jesus.

Our Savior and LORD.

The Jesus of the Bible.

What joy! What peace! In Christ, we have eternal, soul rest. For a life built on Jesus is undergirded with an unshakable foundation.

What is the foundation of your life? Do you have a favorite Scripture about this?

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ~Matthew 7:24

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” ~Matthew 4:4

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ~John 14:26

Other posts you may enjoy:

What is the Main Message of the Bible? By Melissa McLaughlin

How Should Christians View the Law? Jesus and the Law Part 1 by Melissa McLaughlin

How Should Christians View the Law? New Testament Teaching Part 2 by Melissa McLaughlin

The Sacrificial Lamb – Why Did Jesus Have to Die? By Melissa McLaughlin