How do you make Jesus the foundation of your life?

Real life can only be found in Jesus Christ …

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,'” John 14:6.

This life in Christ, with Jesus as the very foundation upon which our life is built and operates, can endure all the various “seasons” and experiences we will face while on this earth. And it’s a life in which God intends for us to discover joy in spite of what our circumstances may be, and a life that is full …

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.'” John 10:10.

But in the church today, there are many Christians who are living lives so overwhelmed by their circumstances it feels like their lives are on the verge of collapse. Jesus describes how experiences in our lives can buffet and beat upon us, and He points out that what — or in this case, who — we build our lives on will determine our ability to withstand life’s struggles …

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash,’” Matthew 7:24-27.

So how can we be like this wise person Jesus speaks of and make Jesus Christ the very foundation on which our life is built, operates on, and depends on? He tells us in the first few words of that passage of scripture …

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it … – Matthew 7:24a

The New International version interprets Matthew 7:24 this way: “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.”

We make Jesus the foundation of our lives only by listening to Him AND THEN putting into practice what He said.

Notice Jesus did NOT say all those storms of life can be avoided if we make Him the foundation of our lives. In fact, Jesus has stated quite the opposite …

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows …” John 16:33a.

Jesus tells us being alive on this planet means we’ll experience problems. But He didn’t leave us with just a dour warning. Look closely how he ends His statement …

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.

We gain life, experience life to the full, and endure life’s challenges by living and operating with Christ as our foundation, and we make Him our foundation by listening to Him and then putting into practice what He said.

Many of us don’t really want Jesus as the foundation from which our lives function and around which our lives revolve. So instead of making Christ our foundation, when the winds and storms of life come, it’s only then that they attempt to listen to what Jesus has to say about those circumstances and then do what He says in order to get through the troubles, only to return to life on the foundation of self thereafter.

That’s the same as the foolish man who failed to listen to Jesus!

To “hear” what Jesus has said doesn’t mean to be a selective listener, or to seek out His wisdom only in times of trouble. It means we live each day listening to what Jesus has to say, and then putting into practice what He has said.

“Putting into practice” is superior to just saying “doing” what Jesus said. It indicates that we first listen to Jesus, and then build into our lives as the standard practice of how we live all that He has said. Jesus becomes our foundation when the daily flow of our lives consists of listening to Him, and our standard operating procedures for living life being living out all He has said.

By listening and putting into practice being the flow of our daily lives, then Jesus is truly the foundation upon which we live and have our being …

“For in him we live and move and exist …” Acts 17:28a.

Is the flow of your daily living that of listening to Jesus and then putting into practice what He said?

Scotty