A Solid Foundation

While talking about Luke 6 and a man building his house upon a rock or upon the earth my pastor said, “building a house without a foundation is faster.”  Spiritually speaking, I could pray and read my Bible for a couple weeks and then feel that I have put in enough time and I am ready for a mature ministry.  I could go without sinning for a month and figure, “Ok God, pour it on me because I am ready for my calling and purpose.”  But it isn’t that way.  We must take the time and effort to remove the saplings of ego, brambles of sin, thistles of bitterness, and the sod of self and dig down into our very souls so that we can build our ministry, our calling, our purpose on the foundation of Christ.  There is a lot of stuff in our life that we must dig out in order for us to make sure our foundation is solid and sure.  Building our ministry on that foundation isn’t something that is easy or without personal expense but comes at a very great expense.  We must give up ourselves, our time, our pleasures, our food, whatever is in the way of building on that sure foundation.  We must MAKE the time for devoted prayer, devoted Bible study, devoted praise; even if it is at the expense of dinner with friends, scrapbooking, sleep, etc.  We have to set aside food occasionally to strengthen our faith through fasting.  If we truly desire a strong, mature ministry, we must root out anything that could undermine your foundation.  Developing that mature ministry takes concentrated effort, it will not come through mediocrity, half-hearted prayer, occasional Bible reading.  When we pour our whole heart into serving God and building the ministry that he called us to, he will pour his whole heart into bringing us great fulfillment – in this life and the one to come.