Last night I had the privilege of speaking to the Eden Christian Academy baseball team. Their Head Coach, Mark Feldman, has been a friend of mine for 17 years. He wanted me to speak to his team for 15 minutes after their practice at a team dinner. I gave the same talk I always give to a new group of athletes, but I customized it for baseball.
When I begin, I always ask for the youngest or smallest athlete to come to the front with me. Then I ask for the strongest (or biggest) athlete to come to the front with me.
I then ask all the athletes in the the crowd, "Who thinks that _____ (smallest) can push _____ (biggest) off his base foundation with just one hand? No running start. No lunging. Just a simple push of the hand. The crowd always yells and debates their opinion, and the biggest athlete widens his base and braces himself for the push.
Just before the smallest athlete pushes the biggest, I stop him. I say, "Before he pushes you, I forgot to tell you that you have to stand on this ball (football, baseball, basketball, etc.)." The crowd always howls and scowls, and the biggest athlete knows he's been tricked.
While trying to balance on the ball, the smallest athlete is always able to push the biggest athlete right off.
I then ask the crowd, "What is your foundation? What are you building your life upon?"
Then, for competition sake, I see if the smallest can push the biggest off his base that is grounded on the solid floor. Most of the time, he cannot even budge him off his foundation.
I ask again. "What is your foundation? What are you building your life upon?"
The volunteers go back to their seat, and I hold up the ball to the crowd. I'll say something like, "If you spend all your time and energy building your life up on this ball, you'll easily be pushed over by life. This ball makes for a horrible foundation. As we saw, even the smallest push can take you out."
That ball can represent so many things that you and I try to build our life upon. Performance. Money. Relationships. Education. Jobs. Friendships. Bank accounts. These things are good thing, but as foundations to build your life on...they're shaky at best.
Performance - what if you have a bad game or a bad quarter?
Money - what happens if the stock market crashes?
Relationships - what do you do when he wants a divorce?
Education - how many initials after your name is enough?
Jobs - what happens when you get fired or they downsize?
Friendships - what will you do if your buddy stabs you in the back?
Bank accounts - how much is enough for you to be secure?
There was a man who had all of these...and then some! His name was King Solomon. It has been credited to him to be the wisest man who ever lived. People would travel for thousands of miles just to hear him speak about his wisdom and experience. He built elaborate buildings. He had more women than he knew what to do with. He had more money than anyone else in history.
Listen to what King Solomon said about these shaky foundations...
"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
Meaningless. Like chasing the wind. He didn't say they're bad in and of themselves, but he said they're meaningless.
The guys who had it all said none of it fulfilled him. They were faulty foundations to build his life upon.
What about you? What are you building your life upon? What is your foundation?
Are you expecting that job to fulfill you? Your spouse? Your income? Are you expecting your education to give you the life you've always wanted?
Unfortunately, all of these things can't give you what you need. They will never fully satisfy. Your performance will give way to a bad day. Your money could be here today and gone tomorrow. Your relationship could go south. Your education might not be good enough for that job you're chasing. The job you worked so hard to get could give you the boot.
I think you're getting my point.
This is why our lives must be built on something that will outlast all these things.
This is why I've decided to build my life upon Jesus Christ and his teachings. The evidence of his life, death, and resurrection convince me that He is worthy of building my life on. Look at what he said at the end of his most famous sermon (that was recorded in Matthew 5-7).
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” - Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
The storms of life come for all of us. The flood waters (job loss, losing money, bad relationships, the death of a family member, sports injuries, etc.) rise on all of our houses. But, when you have a strong and solid foundation, none of these storms can move you.
What Jesus was teaching was that he is the strong foundation. He’s the Rock.
My choice is to trust someone outside of my circumstances for my foundation. I’m here to tell you about my firm and unshakable foundation. The Rock on which I stand.
His name is Jesus.
I encourage you to think about yours.
WHAT IS THE FOUNDATION YOU’RE BUILDING YOUR LIFE ON?
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