"Why Bother With a Good Foundation?"

by WXAN & KMHM General Manager, Doug Apple

What happens when you construct a building on a bad foundation? Over time, the base of the building will shift or sink. You will begin to notice cracks in the walls and slopes in the floors. If it gets bad enough windows will break. Eventually even pipes will burst. Finally the building will simply fall apart. 

For a while you can patch up the building, fixing things as they break. This is costly in both time and money. In short order the cost of repairs will be more than the cost of laying a good foundation in the first place. 

With this in mind, why wouldn't everyone build on a good foundation? There are several reasons. Ignorance is one. They don't know how to create a proper foundation, so they just do the best they can. Or they may know better, but want to avoid the extra expense. Or they may have the know-how and the finances, but they are in a hurry to get the building up, so they decide not to “waste” too much time on the foundation. Then there are people who are just lazy, or they just don't care.

It is helpful to understand the importance of a building's foundation when we read what Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

What happens when you construct your life on a bad foundation? Over time it will feel like the ground is giving away beneath you. You will begin to sense the instability and fleeting-ness of life without God as your foundation. Even as you try to hold things together on your own, cracks will begin to form. Occasionally pipes will burst. No matter how hard you try, or how much money you spend, the erosion continues unabated at your very core. 

So what is a good foundation for life? Jesus said it is hearing His words and putting them into practice. Anything apart from this is sand. 

So why doesn't everyone build on the solid foundation of God's word? Ignorance is one reason. They just don't know or believe God's word, so they do the best they can. Of course there is the expense. Some people know what God says to do, but they decide it will cost them too much of something they don't want to give up. Others are just too busy, in too much of a hurry to “waste” time applying God's principles. Then there are people who are just lazy, or they just don't care. 
As in construction, it is more difficult in the beginning to build our lives on a good foundation, the way God instructs us to. But as in construction, in the long run, building our lives on the firm foundation of God's word is always the best thing to do.