Here is a Personal Question
“What am I doing with my life?”
The question strikes close to home. As you consider your family and your personal life ask, “what I am building?” Personally, as an individual, have you accepted Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone of your life? Are you constructing your life around His Name? Or, are you simply making a name for yourself?
If you have said “Yes” to Jesus then what you have said is, “That stone right there is the number one marker, and from that place I will lay every other brick in my life. Every little piece of the edifice, I will center and align upon him, because he is the plumb. He is the Chief Cornerstone.”
Have you done that in your life as you have built your career and financial life; as you have built your marriage; as you have built your home; as you have raised your children? Have you aligned every aspect of your life, your vocation, everything, with Jesus Christ as your Chief Cornerstone? Now that’s a tough question.
It is not a hard question to ask, but it is a hard question to answer honestly. Why? Because more often than not, the answer is “No.”
As I argued in the last post, we live in a nation that, in these last days, has built according to the human blueprint rather than God’s blueprint (even contrary to its own pioneers and founders). The pressure is on every one of us to conform to the pattern of this world and give up core values aligned on Jesus Christ. The culture may be OK with Jesus being a “decorative fixture” in your life. But, make Jesus the center of all you are and all you do, and you will find yourself at odds with the prevailing winds and tide.
Some people do say, “Yes to Jesus.” But then merely make him a fixture and an add on to a self-focused and self-constructed life. As if to say to the Lord: “I’m going to put you up here as a decorative stone; as something that is attractive that I like to look at occasionally.” But that is not the way God has ordained things, is it? Jesus is not to be the decoration on an existing structure but rather the foundation and starting point. He is the Chief Cornerstone! While the builders of our day may reject that, and while we may even be some of those builders, God has ordained his plan for our lives. His plan is ultimately for our good.
Wise and Foolish Builders
Jesus taught that there are really only two types of builders in this world, wise and foolish. He illustrated his comparison of the two with a parable known as “The Wise and Foolish Builders”:
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. –Matthew 7:24-27
Looking on from the outside, the two buildings which these two builders constructed could have appeared quite similar. However, one was built like a house of cards and the other built to last. The difference in the two structures lay not in what was seen above the surface, but what was unseen and hidden. The difference lay in the deep foundation. Notice that Jesus identifies the wise builder as the one who “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice”.
GK Chesterton once opined, “It is not as if Christianity has been tried and found wanting, it is that it has not been tried.” Actually, Christianity has born tremendous fruit for life and blessing in the life of everyone who has tried it. Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone, he has been set in place for our guidance to offer a life of blessing and goodness.
What am I doing with my life?
Without him as our foundation stone, we have no direction and are endanger of being washed out. Our society promotes a philosophy called “secular relativism”. Its only and highest value is tolerance. The result of this philosophy is a society where people do whatever they want in their own eyes. The Lord would have the peace of Christ rule and govern our hearts. Instead, the spirit of the age promotes self-rule. The pressure is on for you to construct a life according to the pattern of this secular world according to your own self-constructed plans. Ask yourself: What am I doing with my life?
As Jesus warned, it is just a matter of time before a structure constructed without a proper foundation will be tested. The storms of life will come. The home of a foolish builder will fail the structural challenge–and it will fall with “a great crash”! Sadly that has been the tragic story for so many individuals, marriages and families in our day. The trial of faith will come to all of us personally…the strength of a structure will be proven by the deep foundation of a personal life built on the Rock. Again, Jesus identifies the wise builder as the one who “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice”. In Jesus’ parable the storm came to both houses, but the house built on the rock–it did not fall!
For discussion: In the comments, offer an encouragement or some ideas to someone who may be wondering what personally needs to be done in order to rebuild a life on the rock…post your thoughts here!
I think we are all rebuilding our lives starting from this point forward. We are a lot more fortunate than those who build large buildings and find half way through they have misplaced the cornerstone or used the wrong cornerstone. We can place that Cornerstone right now and build upon it without having to tear down all that we have already done.
Thanks Dad! To the the one who may have never incorporated the cornerstone, I think your comment is really helpful. In Christ, anyone can recieve a fresh start! From this point forward-that is the best any of us can do! Thankfully, in his mercy The Lord gives a clean slate to those who seek him. It is never too late.
When success surrounds us and our problems seem to be somewhat under control, it is very easy for us to believe that all, or at least most of, the good things happening are due only to our own good efforts. We start earning more money, or we are very proud of our own special accomplishments, or we become so self-sufficient that we no longer have time for others.
But why is it that the rich referred to in the Bible have so much more difficulty in becoming good Christians than the poor? Why does pride become such a very serious sin? Why do the humble “inherit the earth” in Scriptures? Why does the second major commandment ask us to love “others” even as Jesus loves others, and what does that mean?
We must each find a way to get off of our own throne, which is to say that we must care for the opinions and welfare of others just as much as we care for our own thoughts and cares. For a serious Christian, loving the LORD, studying the Bible and prayer should be key to the establishment of the needed basics, which I believe must start in the proper alignment of our own hearts and expand out from there. These steps can be as simple or as complex as we make them, if we can only start by a sincere and focused love of our LORD.
I love the visual of “getting off our own throne”. Thank you for your excellent contribution Jim!
Walking on the road of faith in the footsteps of Jesus Christ isn’t always smooth and straightforward .In fact, it can be downright jarring. Jolts can get us if we don’t watch out. I think we have to keep believing that even jolts on the rough road of life can have a positive influence on us. Some of those rebuffs can bring out the deeper qualities of life if we see the jolts that come our way as the impetus to re-examine our life.
Thank you for the thoughtful reflection, Jaroslav! Your post reminds me of the verse in Hebrews that says, “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but later produces a harvest of righteousness.”