June 19, 2020
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:11
We found out on a Sunday who our crew was and what it was we were going to do for the week. We were to ride about 45 minutes to a small town and put vinyl siding on a house. As we were riding to the site on Sunday afternoon to take a look, I asked the young man who was the crew chief had he ever sided a house before. He said, “No.” We found out that none of us on the crew had any experience siding a house. Needless to say we were perplexed.
On Monday our task was to paint some areas of the house that would not be covered. As we were working, a man from the local church that was sponsoring the project came by to tell us that on Tuesday morning someone who come who would help us with the siding.
On Tuesday we met Dave. Dave was 66 and was retired from a carpenter’s union. Dave knew everything about siding a house. He jumped right in and before long the three adults and 8 young people were putting up vinyl siding. Dave taught us how to cut the siding, the channels and how not to nail the nails up tight so the siding could shift with the house. By Friday afternoon the project was all finished except for a few metal breaks for some soffit and Dave promised to finish them the next week. We had accomplished a job, but it would have never happened without the expertise of Dave.
Now Dave’s expertise has got me to Just Thinking! People are trying to do life by themselves without the expertise of someone who knows how to do life. Matter of fact one of the reasons our world is in such a state of disarray is because we have been going about it all the wrong way. We are trying to do life without an expert. We are trying to make everything alright without an expert.
Now I read a great deal. I read what people think we should do to fix race relations. I read what people think we should do to grow a church. I read what people think we should do to grow and mature leaders. They are all good books and they all have good things to say. Yet the expert are not the writers of the books. I think I know who the expert is. The expert of doing life and doing it right is Jesus.
Paul understood this as he wrote to the church at Corinth, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 13:10-11.) If you are trying to do life without Jesus you are building on the wrong foundation. Your foundation may seem strong, but it will crumble. You need to build on Jesus. If Paul recognized Jesus as the only foundation then there is no one else that we can depend on.
We would have never made it that week without Dave. You will never make it in life without Jesus.
Dear Father, help us to learn from the expert on life. Help us to grow more and more passionate about doing life the right way. Help us to learn the ins and outs of life by following the one who knows life. Help us to embrace Jesus as the life-giver. In His name we pray, Amen.