Warning: Hard Hat Area

we started our lectures this week, and were blessed with the privaledge to hear Peter Warren speak.  He gave us an amazing week of foundation rebuilding.  I forgot how important foundation is.  Sometimes i want to build a house on sand.  I think to myself, "we can save a ton of time if we skip the foundation part.  I mean, no one sees the foundation anyways..."

I guess that's what they were thinking when they built the leaning tower of pisa.  A weak foundation eventually gets found out, plus it costs a much greater price to maintain and repair.  Sometimes, reparation is impossible.  You need to level the building and reset that foundation.

I found that out while listening to Warren.  I built my life on weak foundation, and needed to take a sledgehammer to the walls in order to reset my foundation on the rock.

My foundation was built upon Christ, but it wasn't as strong as it could be.  I remember becoming a christian as a young child because my parents were Christians.  I wanted to make them happy, and I thought the alternative to heaven was kinda scary.  In 1 Peter 3:15, the Apostle says that we need to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in us.  I personally don't want to be the guy who kicked the dirt while mumbling, "cuz it's better than hell."

So, how did Warren help me reset my foundation?  Well, he reminded me that God created us to be in relationship with Him.  I've mutter that phrase a hundred times during sunday school, but deep down i always struggled believing it.  I knew that people will go to hell unless they accept Christ as their personal lord and savior, so I saw a conditional component to God's love.  God doesn't love conditionally though, and you need to look at the original blueprint in order to understand that. 

God created Adam and Eve in the perfect garden, with the perfect relationship with Him.  They didn't have to do anything in order to be in paradise, they just had to exist.  Unfortunately, we all make some really dumb decisions.  We lie, steal, cheat and hurt other people.  Those sins prevent us from experiencing a relationship with God.  Luckily, God wants to rebuild our foundational relationship with Him. 

The mosaic law didn't save people, so He made Himself the foundation.  The earth is falling apart, so He will create a new one.  Our relationship is hindered by an enemy who hates us, so He will cast Satan into Hell so we can enjoy His relationship to the full extent.  He will remove the pain, the hurt and evil that perverted His original plan.

I'm so grateful that my foundation has been reset, because its much stronger when built upon Christ's love.