Where's The Trouble?

Photo courtesy of http://www.adhis.net/Home-inspection-foundation-crack-sacramento.html

On Sunday, Pastor Mark made some great points, again. He always gets me pondering.

He gave an interesting illustration of the idea that “it looks like a sheet rock problem until you see the problems with the foundation”. We can repair the cracks in our walls repeatedly, and we’ll have to, if we don’t take the time to look at and assess the damage to our foundation, and work to correct that.

In the famous love chapter of First Corinthians, Paul tells us that no matter what we have, if we don’t have love, we have nothing; no matter what we do, if we don’t do it in love, it’s in vain.  (Click here for a great song that puts it beautifully: The Proof of Your Love.)

If the foundation of who we are and what we do isn’t rooted in love, we’re not representing Christ at all. If the walls around us always seem to be in need of repair, if cracks consistently reappear, the problem isn’t the sheet rock, it’s in the foundation.

What happened to the foundation? Life can be hard. Hardship can shift or break-down our foundation if we’ve not been guarding it. Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’ve let our guard down, or were never taught to put it up in the first place.

Our guard isn’t to keep others distanced from our hearts, not at all. God instructs us to love our neighbor as ourselves (in ten different verses in the Bible). But, if we no longer love ourselves, how can we effectively love others?   

The guard posted at a military base gate doesn’t just keep people out, but is charged with keeping the wrong people out, while allowing the right ones in. He can identify the right people, because they’ll give him their I.D. card granting them access.

However, in the journey of life, we don’t have I.D. cards, per se, to display for each other. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us in relationships, to warn us of impending danger, to help us stand guard over our hearts, where our foundation is hidden.

Yes, Christians sustain damage to their foundations as well as non-believers; trusting ourselves before consulting with our Father.

And yet, with God, there is no damage beyond repair. He created our hearts. He’s jealous of our hearts and to whom we give them; yearning to protect us. Still, He  allows us to choose for ourselves how we conduct our lives and when, where and to whom we hand over our hearts.

Don’t beat yourself up for damage done to your foundation. We can’t live in the past or it’s sorrows. We can, however, rebuild – with the Master Carpenter.

The next blog post I’ll share will look at how we do that rebuilding!