Day 1

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” —PSALM 11:3

Several years after its completion there was discovered a crack on the forty-second floor of a multi-storey building. The Chief Executive Officer of the building management company called the architect and said, “I need you to come; we’ve got a crack on the forty-second floor.” When the architect arrived, the CEO took the elevator to the forty-second floor to meet the architect, but he was not there. Eventually, the architect was found down in the basement, so the CEO asked the architect, “What are you doing down here? We called you to investigate a crack on the forty-second floor. What are you doing in the basement?” And the architect said, “You may have a crack on the forty-second floor, but your problem is not on the forty-second floor. The problem is in the basement.”

Apparently, there was a security guard who worked in the building who wanted to build a garage in his yard at home, but he could not afford to do this, so every night before he went home, he went to the basement, chiselled a brick out of the wall and took it home, adding it to the growing pile in his yard. After months of doing that, a crack suddenly appeared on the forty- second floor, but as the architect recognized, the crack had nothing to do with the forty-second floor. It had everything to do with the basement, the foundation.

For those who have eyes to see, there are all kinds of cracks on the upper stories of life around us today. Family breakdowns, moral confusion, social and political unrest are the cracks we see, but the real issue lies in the foundation. Paul wrote, ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 3:11). If we build on this foundation, we are safe and secure. If we chip away at this foundation, we expose ourselves to cracks on every floor. That is why the Lord Jesus is not merely an option for those who want Him. He is indispensable to the secure stable life most of us want to live.

PRAYER: Keep me mindful, Lord, that You are my foundation, and help me to build upon that, making You the cornerstone of every aspect of my life.

TO REFLECT UPON: Is Jesus Christ the foundation I am building my life upon?