Build to Match the Foundation

UV 1502/10000 Build to Match the Foundation
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
2 Timothy 2 v 19

Jesus is the foundation that God has planned for mankind from the foundation of the earth. He is the rock foundation. He imparts strength and grace to our lives. Nothing can shake or move us. He has sealed us as those who belong to the Lord with the Holy Spirit. We have been adopted as children of God on account of the foundation. He has given us everything that we need to lead blessed lives and for godliness through our knowledge of Jesus who called us by His own grace and goodness. The rest of our lives is meant for building on the foundation with the spiritual equivalent of gold, precious stones and diamonds. We should be as pure, precious and shining like gold, as beautiful as precious stones and as strong and multi-faceted as diamonds. The Lord gathers us as a man gathers these treasures.

Nobody builds a hut on top of a rock foundation. We are building huts when we live lives that are unworthy of Jesus. We are building on the rock foundation of faith in Jesus by imitating His goodness. To that goodness, we should build by adding knowledge of the Word and the world. To knowledge, we should add self control, to self control we should add perseverance, to perseverance we should build brotherly kindness and to kindness we should add love. Love is the summit of our building. The foundation of our lives is faith, the roof is love- love of God and love of others. We should keep adding to these godly qualities more and more. If we do not add these qualities, we are like a builder who just lays a foundation and leaves the superstructure shabby and incomplete. When huge pits are dug for a foundation for a building it looks ugly but once the building is complete it looks beautiful. We look to the foundation, Jesus for strength, stability and certainty while Jesus looks to our lives for beauty and glory. Nobody sees our roots but everyone sees our fruit- make sure these are ready for plucking and eating. People see the fruit and recognize we belong to the Lord. The Lord sees both our roots and our fruit and delights that both our roots and fruit are good and wholesome.

Faith involves a process of demolishing and building, of uprooting and casting new roots, of leaving and cleaving. We need to leave the errors and sins of our present and past. We need to cleave to the goodness of Jesus. We need to run towards goodness and flee from evil. We should cling to our hope and give up our anger, malice, pride, lusts and folly. We should endeavour to build a structure that is worthy of the foundation, worthy of the name of Jesus that is written all over our roots. Jesus supercedes our genes, our family background, our qualifications, our accomplishments, our failures, our strengths and weaknesses, our fate and our foes. A glorious foundation is meant to build something equally glorious. The many names of God- Rohi or Shepherd, Rapha or Healer, Nissi or Victor, Jireh or Provider, Shalom or Peace, Adonai or Lord..are written on the foundation and those dimensions or manifestations will be revealed over time in the superstructure of our lives. God who provided the safe and sure foundation will also provide us material for building the superstructure.

Prateep V Philip