A Solid Foundation

It’s become common to hear stories of incidents occurring in today’s world that prompt questions like “How can this still be happening in this day and age?” Those questions are born from the belief that our nation, the world, and humanity in general should have progressed to the point where certain problems no longer exist. In the minds of some, racism, sexism, and all other types of bigotry should be things of the past. Yet, looking at recent events that have been unfolding in the U.S., we see that those things have not faded at all. In some ways, they may be just as prominent in society as they ever were. How can that be?

Perhaps, it's a little naive to believe that time alone is enough to carry us away from the ills that infest society. Sure, there have been civil rights movements and women’s suffrage movements and other large scale efforts by groups to push society past the problems that plague it. However, maybe the problem is that these things are so ingrained in our society that they will require more than marches and protests to eliminate.

Consider the issue of police brutality. It is something that blacks have been decrying for decades. The protests we’ve seen in 2020 have been the largest scaled and longest running protests against this particular problem. Many have presented suggestions as to what might be done, and those suggestions cover a wide spectrum. Some say that police forces in America just need light reform to root out the bad apples. Others believe the role of the police should be abolished altogether. Still, another idea is that the policing agencies around the U.S. should essentially be torn down and rebuilt into something new and better.

 The reasoning for that last suggestion is interesting. When you trace back the history of many of the police agencies in our country, you’ll find that some started out as slave patrols tasked with finding and returning blacks that tried to escape bondage. Following slavery, during Reconstruction, people charged with enforcing the law took part in breaking it when it came to attempting to oppress newly freed slaves. Even up to the Civil Rights era, it was common for police agencies to have officers of the law that were also members of the KKK. While that might sound unbelievable to some, recent investigations have shown that even now there are police agencies in the U.S. that have been infiltrated by white extremist groups. 

Taking this history into account, it becomes clearer that racism didn’t just slip into American policing over time. It was something that was built into the very foundation of the institution. Fixing something that is flawed at its foundation is difficult. A surface fix will not do the job, hence why some believe police forces should be rebuilt from the ground up. A similar argument could be made for American society as a whole. The nation’s foundation isn’t all bad. After all, America was built on ideas and principles such as liberty and freedom. Unfortunately, those principles were not always put into action. Instead, more problematic things like the enslavement of Black people, genocide of Indigenous peoples, and second class treatment of women were integral parts of American society from the start. This nation’s foundation may sound strong when you read some of its defining documents, but clearly in practice, that foundation has its cracks.

We can even apply the same logic to our own lives. If we frequently find ourselves struck with turmoil and unrest in our lives, maybe the problem is that we’ve built our lives on bad foundations. Anything that is built on a bad foundation is bound to crumble and fall eventually. Jesus himself made that point with a metaphor in one of his parables.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” - Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus’ parables weren’t always clear to everyone that heard them. In fact, on some occasions, his disciples had to question him about the meaning of the parables because they didn’t understand what he was teaching. That is not a problem here. Jesus’ meaning should be clear to all who hear. People who build their foundation on the Word will be able to weather the trials and tribulations that come their way. Those who do not will fall eventually.

As Believers, this should be a no brainer for us. The Bible and the lessons in it should be the fundamental guide for how we live our lives. However, simply knowing what the Bible says doesn’t mean that a person’s life is built on a solid foundation. It is not enough to simply know the Word.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. - James 1:22

People who know what the Bible says but don’t live by the tenets expressed in the Bible are similar to the American society which promotes what’s written in documents like the Declaration of Independence but hasn’t put those ideas into practice. Those people have lives that are also built on foundations with cracks in them. For those people, salvation may be fleeting.

That’s why when we truly come to follow Jesus, our lives often have to be torn down and rebuilt. That line of thinking is exactly why the Bible tells us that we must be “born again” when coming to Jesus.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. - 1 Peter 1:23

Before accepting Jesus, our lives are built on bad foundations. We can’t just take the gift of salvation that Jesus offers, put it on that bad foundation, and hope all will be well. We have to abandon the old foundation of sinfulness and build our lives on a new foundation of the Word and the Holy Spirit. Only then can we hope to hold strong and remain true to our faith even when everything in the world tries to tear us down. As Christians, if we can buy into this concept in our own lives and in our own community, then maybe we can stand as examples of what needs to be done to fix the things around us. Maybe we can provide the foundation for the good in society, the way Jesus provided a foundation for us.

Chris Lawyer

Image Courtesy of the North Church website