“FOUNDATIONS”

I enjoy lifting weights as a means of exercise. I was lifting one day and chose to increase the weight in a particular lift. After lifting this new weight for about two weeks I began noticing that my left arm was beginning to ache. I thought that this was my age showing and that I should not have increased the weight and just been content with where I was. I was talking to my brother, who has a medical background, one day about my sore arm. He asked me what lift I was doing, so I told him. He then asked me how I was performing this particular lift and when I told him he told me I was doing it wrong. I had been lifting this way for a long time, but did not notice it until I increased the weight. The Lord spoke to me through this experience.

The Lord showed me that when something is foundationally wrong it cannot handle any more weight. Just because we have been doing something for a long time a certain way does not mean that it has been done right. You will know that a foundation is wrong as soon as you put more weight on it. I had to go back to a lot less weight and begin to do that particular lift correctly. Today my arm does not hurt when I lift weights because I corrected the way I lifted weights at the foundation. I went back to how I was doing the lifts even though I have been lifting since I was in grade school. When you do something wrong for long it can hurt. I received my brother’s correction and made the necessary adjustments. Today I am without pain.

Is it possible that there is something in your life that is foundationally off? It could be something that you have done for years. Then one day things changed. A little more was asked of you or your routine was broken and it sent everything into a tailspin. I encourage you to look at your foundation. Ask yourself some foundational questions like: Why am I doing this? What is my motivation behind doing what I do? Why have I been so irritated lately? When did things begin to change? Then I would encourage you to ask some spiritually foundational questions like: Who am I doing this for? Is this something God has asked me to do? Has God given me this or am I assuming the responsibility for this? Do I sense God’s pleasure when I do this? Has this brought me closer to the Lord or further away?

Let’s look at some scripture in I Corinthians 3:10-11 which says,
“According to the grace of God which was given me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

When it comes to foundations everything revolves around Jesus Christ for the believer. When Jesus is not the basis of it the foundation is a faulty one. When a life does not have Jesus as the foundation it cannot handle very much. But when Jesus is invited into the heart, that person can end up accomplishing things that are not even humanly possible. Is Jesus the foundation upon which you are building? Is something beginning to hurt even though you have been doing it that way for years? Go back and make sure the foundation is right or should I say righteous.