(The following is the July 9 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read 1 Corinthians 3 and pay close attention to verses 10-15.)
What or who is the foundation of your life? Every physical building needs a solid foundation. As spiritual beings, where we spend eternity depends on our spiritual foundation. Paul reminded the Corinthian church, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (vv. 11).
Paul describes other materials with which people might attempt to build physical foundations – gold, silver, stones, wood, hay, or straw. Not all are worthy, lasting materials. “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (v. 13). Other competitors for our foundations may include work, pleasure, money, possessions, and doing good works. Even potentially beautiful human relationships can become false idols upon which we build temporal foundations that may not last this earthly life, much less for eternity.
Spurgeon identifies four truths about spiritual foundations that apply to individual Christians and the church: *
“A foundation is the first portion of a building, and so is the Lord Jesus first and foremost with his church.”
“A foundation is the support of all, and there is no church except that which derives all its support from Christ Jesus.”
“The shape of a building is determined by its foundation. If any portion of a church is not based on Christ, it is a mere deforming addition to the plan of the great architect.”
“A foundation is indispensable to a building, and so Christ is indispensable to a true church.”
Jesus Christ is the only eternal, sure foundation.
Next Step:
What was the foundation of your life before Christ? What do you see other people, groups, or churches building on instead of Christ?
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* CSB Spurgeon Study Bible, ed. Alistair Begg (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1540.
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