The Advent Part 79
It is a well-known and accepted fact that the bigger the house, the deeper the foundation. If the foundation of a house is not deep, robust, well-built and sturdy no matter how beautiful the construct might be, no matter how intricate the walls and the ceiling, there remains a perpetual danger that due to the inadequate foundation the entire thing will one day come crashing down. The household of faith, the Congregation of God is as high as the heavens, where Christ its head sits in His glory, and as such its foundation must be deep and true. There can be no substituting the foundation of the church, for only when it stands upon the Word of God is it strong and unyielding when the inevitable storms come its way.
One knows the strength of a foundation only when the foundation is tested by some external pressure. Up until the storm comes, up until the whirlwind descends, the homes with foundations as well as those without foundations will stand side by side. When the storm comes however, it is only those whose foundations are true that will remain standing, and only those whose foundations are strong will weather the storm.
It is true of an individual as it is true for the church as a whole, one is only as strong as their foundation, and if our foundation is anything other than Christ and the Word of God, when the storm comes none will remain standing.
Bubble gum doctrines are great in the good times, during the sunny days when everyone is smelling roses and enjoying the sunshine, but these doctrines will evaporate at the first sign of pushback, conflict, resistance, or persecution.
Fair weather Christianity is called ‘fair weather’ for a reason, that reason being that as long as there are no storms on the horizon, as long as faith isn’t tested, to those who have no desire for the deeper things of God it is an acceptable surrogate to the real thing.
‘We like the singing and the plays the kids put on, plus they have a great daycare for members, and the potlucks have a wide variety of food. No, we’re not getting spiritually fed, we are not challenged to grow in God, no one encourages us to read the Bible, no one beseeches us to repent and commit wholly to Christ, but you can’t have everything now can you?’
The time is here, the hour has come when nominal Christianity, bubble gum doctrine, and fair weather faith will not suffice, and our only hope and recourse is to deepen our roots in the Word of God, and know that our foundation is none other than Christ Jesus.
There is wisdom in the Word of God that we cannot get anywhere else. It doesn’t matter how wise a man thinks himself to be, it doesn’t matter how educated one might be, there is still that wisdom that transcends human understanding that the Bible offers the children of God, a wisdom that only they have access to.
I realize the preceding might sound elitist to some, but it is a truth that is substantiated by the Bible, and one those who omit the reading of the Word and the studying thereof must come to realize.
1 Corinthians 2:6-13, “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
If Paul’s statements were applicable two thousand years ago, then they are surely applicable in our day and age as well. Yes, the wisdom of the rulers of this age is coming to nothing, and so rather than speak their wisdom we must speak the wisdom of God. It is easy for us to get caught up in the malaise, it is easy for us to get caught up with the crowd and start to repeat that which we hear from others, yet our thinking must be different than that of the world, for we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
God has prepared great things for His children, the Word going so far as to tell us that eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has in store for those who love Him, yet with all the promises of God, with all that we have access to, with all that we know God has prepared, many of us are still dragging our feet, doing the least we can do, concentrating our efforts and resources on the passing and fleeting things of this present life.
May God reignite the burning fires of first love in our hearts, and may we desire all of Him and not just part of Him.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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