“A Sure Foundation”

One of my favorite scriptures is the counsel that Helaman gave his sons Nephi and Lehi when he said, “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (Helaman 5:12)

I love the imagery of building our foundation on the rock of Jesus Christ to help us weather the storms of life. For a time I worked on the 56^th floor of a 57 story building in downtown Cleveland. When the winds would blow off of Lake Erie, the building would creak and sway but it never toppled to the ground. I’m grateful that the contractors dug deep into the earth and poured the foundation on bedrock so that it would bear the weight of the building and keep it secure against all the elements. Just like the builders of this and other great buildings, we must build the foundation of our lives on the rock of Jesus Christ in order to weather the storms and floods of life.

How do we build our foundations on the rock of Jesus Christ our Redeemer? The Savior taught, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6: 46-49)

To build the foundation of our lives on the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to strive to be like Him in all we do. To do this, we need to study His life and teachings. The scriptures describe our attitude towards study with various words rich in meaning such as feast, treasure, and diligent. None of these imply a casual attitude towards our learning of Him.

The Savior also says that we must incorporate into our lives those things that we learn. This requires that we have enough faith and trust in the Savior to do what He asks of us in His teachings. What purpose is learning of Him if it doesn’t change us? The Savior in Matthew calls the person who follows these principles a wise person and one who does not foolish.

Those who build a foundation on the rock of Jesus Christ are entitled to wonderful blessings. From the words of the hymn How Firm a Foundation, we sing that He will provide us with refuge and succor, He will give us aid and support us by His omnipotent hand, He will be with us and sanctify us in time of trial and need, and He will never forsake us. My constant prayer is that I will be entitled to these blessings because I have dug deep and built a firm foundation on Jesus Christ, my Rock and Redeemer.