Building Basics: A Solid Foundation
Countless hours of my high school years were spent in the drafting lab. After the obligatory twelve weeks of mechanical drawing freshman year, I immersed myself in architectural drawing for the balance of available shop and study periods. It is gratifying to create a set of plans from footer to final elevation. That pales to the satisfaction of having an enduring structure built based on those plans. Sadly, many grand structures fail because of an inadequate foundation. The design of the foundation is just as important as its construction.
Jesus taught a parable about the wisdom of a solid foundation. “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:47-49 NKJV). An insufficient foundation will not support the best of designs. Success takes the right plan on the right foundation.
Other projects fail from lack of commitment. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — “lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, “saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’ (Luke 14:28-30 NKJV). Some fail from inferior products and workmanship. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is (1 Corinthians 3:9-13 NKJV).
A house is just a structure until it is furnished and occupied. The homeowner accumulates furnishings to suit their own taste and needs. Furnishings must be kept clean and in good working order to preserve their usefulness. The homeowner intimately knows the location, condition and function of each item. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work (2 Timothy 2:19-21 NKJV).
God, the Master Architect, has an eternal plan. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him (Ephesians 1:3-10 NKJV). He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV).
God’s eternal house is built on the right plan, has the perfect foundation, and uses the finest materials and workmanship.