WHO WANT'S A FLIMSY FOUNDATION?

The sure-footed doe isn’t always as sure-footed as she hopes. Probably most of us have seen animals tumble and fall. Some of their upsets cause us to laugh. Not so when someone we love, or know, is hurt from a fall. None of us likes instability. The firmer the ground, the safer we feel. Thanks be to God for the stable, immovable truth of His Word.

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES  by Sally Bair

Firm foundations

The accidental antics of Pal, my husband’s black Lab, brought laughter many times. Pal loved riding in our fishing boat and was always the first on and the first off. One day, while in a hurry to jump on board, he miscalculated the movement of the boat. His front paws didn’t wait for the boat deck to remain steady before he jumped aboard. With back legs stretched to their limit as the boat drifted in the wind … splat! Down he went in a belly flop, a look of surprise on his face. What happened to his firm foundation? He probably wondered. With wounded pride, he sulked for over an hour.

Pal's mishap reminds me of Humpty Dumpty, the childhood character who sits high up on a wall and keeps falling every time a youngster repeats the poem. Humpty Dumpty thinks he's sitting on a firm foundation. But the wall is not a secure place and splat he goes—just like Pal.

Humpty Dumpty's brick wall and Pal's sturdy boat and dock could have been made of rotten wood, hay, or straw, for all the good they did. "No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is." (1 Corinthians 3:11.)

What kinds of spiritual foundations do we rely on? Our good works? The ritual of our church services? The faith of our parents? Or perhaps the erroneous, unscriptural belief that there are many ways to obtain entrance into heaven? If we have chosen Jesus Christ as our firm foundation, then He will build our faith in His Word into an indestructible foundation.

We will reap the Holy Spirit's fruit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control," (Galatians 5:22.) striving to serve our Lord as He serves us.

Unlike Pal and Humpty Dumpty, we can depend on a much firmer foundation—one that will guide us in the steps where God wills. 

Lord, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, our foundation of truth. Help us to build on that foundation and not on the unstable deceptions of this world that can cause us to fall. In Jesus' name, amen.