Think of your faith as if it were a house. When we get saved the house is established. Naturally to be saved that automatically makes Jesus the foundation for that faith. We build the house to be bigger and stronger as we grow in our walk and draw closer to Christ.
I find that often times we begin to allow certain things to hold too high of an importance in our life, and we begin to allow it to become part of that foundation.
The first thing I would like to discuss that we often make a big part of our "Faith Foundation" is our feelings. It's almost like when we get saved, after we receive that Joy that Christ gives us because of our salvation, we become addicted. We begin to seek after that good feeling we had when we received Christ. We search for anything that will make us "feel" good.
I remember one time when I was little I was struggling with a besetting sin in my life. There was a period of time where I had victory over the sin. I thought it was just me, that I had gained the victory over the sin. I remember thinking that it didn't "feel" like it was God who did it, I just merely didn't have the desire to do that sin anymore, so it had to be in my own strength right? Wrong, just because something doesn't feel like God, doesn't mean it isn't. Don't expect the heavens to open up and God to reach down and take the sin out of our life. God doesn't work like that.
The point I'm trying to make is that, our feelings change, and are very undependable. We may read our bible one day and really get into it, and just "feeling" God talking to us, and the next day we may read it, and we can't understand it, and we just don't "feel" it. Does that necessarily mean that we are any less of a Christian on the day we don't feel it, as on the day that we did? Absolutely not! We can't allow the shifting sands of our feelings to become too important to us in our Christian walk.
The second thing that I find we as Christians often allow to become too much a part of our Christian foundation, is others. We often hold our Pastors, and our deacons, and our spiritual leaders up in too high a regard. They are sinners just like us, the make the same mistakes we do. They will fail us, it's a part of life. We can't allow our regard of a spiritual leader to go so high, that when they fail us, it shakes our faith to the core! I've known so many people who have gone to a church, and really get themselves involved in the church, and begin to grow as a Christian, and as soon as someone says something that offends them, they are out of the church, and back living in their sin. We can't make this mistake!
Where must the foundation of our faith be laid? On Jesus Christ and Him alone! Christ will never fail us. He is the rock.
Deuteronomy 32:4
"He is the ROCK, his work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He."
I Samuel 2:2
"There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any ROCK like our God."
II Samuel 22:2 & 3
"And he said, the Lord is my ROCK, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my ROCK; in Him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence."
I like this idea of a Rock. In all creation, what is probably the most indestructible thing? Probably some kind of a stone. Think of a diamond...virtually indestructible. Just like that our God us indestructible, unchanging, always the same...
Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."
We see a prime example of this idea of "a Rock" as a foundation in a certain passage of scripture that we are all probably familiar with...
Luke 6:47 & 48
"Whosoever cometh unto me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a ROCK: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."
Christ is the Unchanging Rock of our salvation! We must make Him the foundation for our faith and Him alone!
I find that often times we begin to allow certain things to hold too high of an importance in our life, and we begin to allow it to become part of that foundation.
The first thing I would like to discuss that we often make a big part of our "Faith Foundation" is our feelings. It's almost like when we get saved, after we receive that Joy that Christ gives us because of our salvation, we become addicted. We begin to seek after that good feeling we had when we received Christ. We search for anything that will make us "feel" good.
I remember one time when I was little I was struggling with a besetting sin in my life. There was a period of time where I had victory over the sin. I thought it was just me, that I had gained the victory over the sin. I remember thinking that it didn't "feel" like it was God who did it, I just merely didn't have the desire to do that sin anymore, so it had to be in my own strength right? Wrong, just because something doesn't feel like God, doesn't mean it isn't. Don't expect the heavens to open up and God to reach down and take the sin out of our life. God doesn't work like that.
The point I'm trying to make is that, our feelings change, and are very undependable. We may read our bible one day and really get into it, and just "feeling" God talking to us, and the next day we may read it, and we can't understand it, and we just don't "feel" it. Does that necessarily mean that we are any less of a Christian on the day we don't feel it, as on the day that we did? Absolutely not! We can't allow the shifting sands of our feelings to become too important to us in our Christian walk.
The second thing that I find we as Christians often allow to become too much a part of our Christian foundation, is others. We often hold our Pastors, and our deacons, and our spiritual leaders up in too high a regard. They are sinners just like us, the make the same mistakes we do. They will fail us, it's a part of life. We can't allow our regard of a spiritual leader to go so high, that when they fail us, it shakes our faith to the core! I've known so many people who have gone to a church, and really get themselves involved in the church, and begin to grow as a Christian, and as soon as someone says something that offends them, they are out of the church, and back living in their sin. We can't make this mistake!
Where must the foundation of our faith be laid? On Jesus Christ and Him alone! Christ will never fail us. He is the rock.
Deuteronomy 32:4
"He is the ROCK, his work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He."
I Samuel 2:2
"There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any ROCK like our God."
II Samuel 22:2 & 3
"And he said, the Lord is my ROCK, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my ROCK; in Him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence."
I like this idea of a Rock. In all creation, what is probably the most indestructible thing? Probably some kind of a stone. Think of a diamond...virtually indestructible. Just like that our God us indestructible, unchanging, always the same...
Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."
We see a prime example of this idea of "a Rock" as a foundation in a certain passage of scripture that we are all probably familiar with...
Luke 6:47 & 48
"Whosoever cometh unto me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a ROCK: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."
Christ is the Unchanging Rock of our salvation! We must make Him the foundation for our faith and Him alone!
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Trish Greenfield