Building Blocks

Have you ever played with blocks – when you were young or maybe with one of your kids or grandkids?

Children love to build things and their excitement shows as they hurriedly stack those blocks. All they want is to build something spectacular, but in their rush, they don’t spend much time on the foundation.

It’s the same with our faith. Many hear the word and set about to build their faith with good intentions, but we all know where the road that’s paved with good intentions leads. They begin a faith built on works rather than a faith built on the word. They preach, they minister, and they do many things. However, they don’t lay a solid foundation – and don’t even realize their errors until the faith they’ve built crumbles.

Children easily go back to their pile of blocks and begin again – they don’t mind starting over. Eventually, as they grow, they learn the secret to a beautiful creation is building a strong foundation. Too bad we don’t have their imagination, spirit, and persistence. Sometimes I think that’s why Jesus used references to children.

If we want to grow strong in our faith, we need to learn from Jesus, and not only through His teachings but through His living examples.

After calling His twelve disciples, Jesus began teaching and healing. Large crowds began following Him. His longest recorded sermon is the Sermon on the Mount given on a hillside to enormous crowds and probably lasting several days. It summarizes Jesus’ ethical teachings for every day life.

If we are to know Jesus, we can begin here, but I’d like to suggest looking at the end of this teaching first because it gives a vital truth we should strive towards as we seek to learn.

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed, and its collapse was devastating.” Matthew 7:24-27, International Standard Version

The world has seen enough disasters to understand the importance of a solid foundation that will withstand nature’s fury. What are you going to build your faith on?

As always -- blessings, Francine

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