We have been putting a retaining wall in at our place and I have learned a valuable lesson on the importance of the right foundation.
I mean I knew getting this right was important and would take a fair bit of work, but I don’t think I realised how much work it would be. Not to mention that if I got it wrong, how much work would be involved to correct it. But God has a sense of humour and I feel like he taught me all those lessons in one painful experience.
You see laying the concrete slab in the rain was hard work and we tried to make sure all the measurments were level, most were pretty good, but one section was tricky but we pushed on. A week later we found that though it was hard work in the rain, I should have spent more time scraping the surface flat, because it was no where near as hard as cutting the first row of blocks to make it level, now that took way more hours!!! (in the rain as well)
Jesus teaches us to get our foundation right too! Because if we mess that up it leads to a whole heap of problems down the track.
Yet it is really hard work to make sure Jesus and his kingdom is the foundation I build my life upon. I find there are some many things that can weasel in take me away from this safety and security. The worst thing about these things is that they are actually good!! Listen to Tim Keller explain this:
“a common mistake people make when they hear about the biblical concept of idolatry… we think the idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case… anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.”
I am really enjoying ‘spending a year with Jesus’ I feel like sitting with his words so often is slowly chipping away at these good things which can get in and start messing with my foundations for my life, but I know the fight is not over. I need to keep examining my heart because it is so crucial and will show my true foundation.
May we as a church take Keller’s advice to check our foundation making sure it is safe for the future:
“The way forward out of despair, is to discern idols of our hearts and culture. But that will not be enough. The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one”
The only solid foundation!
To read more of Keller’s ‘Counterfeit Gods’ visit reformers bookshop website:
http://reformers.org.au/search.php?mode=search&page=1
Hey Stew,
Thanks for those thoughts. Its’s cool that when the word of Christ is dwelling in us richly (Colossians 3:16), normal everyday experiences actually help us to reflect on his word, making the experience of knowing him even deeper.
Thanks for sharing that experience with us so that we too can examine our foundation and make sure we’re not worshiping counterfeit gods.
Pete