Keep Your Foundation Strong

A few months ago, a friend was emailing me about a somewhat humorous situation she found herself in. Two of her friends were cutting down a small tree and one of them was sitting on a branch while cutting that same branch.

Not exactly the best idea, huh?

Why would you take away (or cut) the one thing keeping you stable and out of harm’s way? The more I thought about it, the less funny it became. Why? Because we often do that exact thing in our relationship with God.

Let me explain.

Knowing Where You Stand

As Christians we are standing in Yahweh’s love. Our desires, goals, and motives should all revolve around our relationship with Him. Nothing less.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, A very ready help in trouble.” He is everything we need; without Him we are unstable and vulnerable. We should be aiming to nurture our relationship with Him and value His love. The sad thing though, is that oftentimes we forget where we stand (I’m referring to myself here, too). We forget that He is the only “branch” strong enough to hold us up. When we don’t work to cultivate and grow our relationship with Him, it’s the same as “cutting off the branch.”

We’re ridding ourselves of the one thing keeping us on stable ground.

The Relationship God Wants With Us

The beautiful thing about God’s love is that it whispers come as you are. He doesn’t expect perfection from us. He doesn’t want us to “have it all together” …if we did, why would we need Him? He simply wants a relationship with us, and it works similarly to any other relationship. Which means that for it to be healthy, there needs to be communication. For it to be strong, there needs to be trust.

Through discussing this idea with other Christian friends I have realized that we tend to overcomplicate it. A relationship with Yahweh has become a concept rather than a reality, which is sad, eyy? The simple truth is that it doesn’t have to be complicated. He just wants to talk with you. To spend time with you. To be loved by you and love you in return. Because He values each and every one of us so much.

However, all of this takes effort. It’s not going to come together overnight. It isn’t the type of thing where you say a quick prayer and hope it will fix all the cracks in the wall.

It takes setting aside time for Him; because He’s worth it wouldn’t you say? It takes sitting and talking with Him when you’d rather curl up and cry; because He wants to cry with you. It takes seeing all the chaos but choosing to look up at the sky; because He’s still the same. It takes making Him the most important thing in your life; forgetting about telling Him you love Him but showing Him…because words are empty until you put actions to them.

Ways to Nurture our Relationship With God

Most of us have grown up hearing these. They’re simple, Sunday school answers that are supposed to “fix everything.” But here’s the thing: they won’t fix everything. It’s not the action that is supposed to change your life, it’s the reason for the actions that is supposed to make a difference.

As you’re reading the following points you will notice I use the words “your foundation” in each heading. That foundation I’m referring to is Yahweh (at all times in this post).

1. Love Your Foundation: Make time for Him

If God isn’t the most important thing in your schedule, isn’t it fair to assume that He’s not the most important thing in your life? I have found that so many times I say He’s my King and forget—or deny—to treat Him like that. That contradicts itself. He can’t be “second place” and “Lord.” We have to choose. Now, that doesn’t mean we’ll always treat Him and value Him the way we should. It simply means that we try a little harder every day. That we pray for strength to submit everything to Him because He is all we need.

2. Seek Your Foundation: Talk with Him

He loves you. I can’t emphasize this enough. He doesn’t just want to be a Father, but a Friend. Isn’t that a beautiful thought? He wants to hear about your day, to bear all your burdens. He wants to help you shoulder all the hurt and wipe away the tears. You have personal access to the King of Heaven any time you want. There aren’t “no-calling hours” or “wipe your feet at the door” requests. It can be easy to take the simplicity and freedom of it all too lightly. I’m guilty of this too; thinking about stopping in the middle of the day to pray but shoving it off because…I can pray later, right? But if we cling to that mindset, eventually we’ll always be “praying later.”

Yahweh is there all the time; all we have to do is slow down enough to appreciate Who He is and the love He has for us. You can rant to Him, cry to Him, laugh with Him…no one will have more compassion or empathy than our God. I can promise you that much.

3. Grow in Your Foundation: Meditate on God’s Word

In Sunday school, as little kids, our teachers, and parents told us, “Read your Bible.” Get a little older and they say, “memorize the Bible.” If those are a regular habit for you, that’s wonderful. Seriously, send me an email, comment below, I’d love to know you’re consistently making time for God in your life. But…it doesn’t end there.

You could read the Bible ten times through and not be impacted one bit. You could memorize dozens of chapters (books even!) and not learn a thing. There is a crucial aspect to this point that we (I’m definitely guilty of this too) tend to overlook or forget. Meditate. When you read a passage in your Bible do you “carry” it with you for the rest of the day? Do you process it and ask questions about it? Do you consider what it really means and how it applies to you?

This is one that I, personally, have room to grow in. It’s easy for reading my Bible and memorizing scriptures to become a mindless habit. Instead of growing, I’m just accomplishing something on my to-do list. It’s something I’ve been working on lately, and I hope you’ll work on it with me!

4. Worship Your Foundation: Grow with other believers

Something that has changed me a lot in my walk with God is simply being around other believers that are strong in their faith. The Christians around you? They’re your family. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Which means we should be supporting and encouraging one another. And, even more, worshipping our God collectively. A pastor’s wife here in West Africa once told me “It’s beautiful to think that one day we will all be singing praises to God…all of us together, completely overwhelmed by His love for us and our love for Him in return.”

5. Abide in Your Foundation: Rest in Him.

You could do a thousand “godly” things and “good-works” but, at the end of the day, none of these things should be done in order to “measure-up.” Because, let me break it to ya: we never will. The reason I’m encouraging you to nurture your relationship with Yahweh is not so that you will be worthy of a relationship with Him, but rather that you (and me, likewise!) would strengthen your relationship with Him.

He is all we need. In the middle of all the chaos, all the fear, all the trials…He is our Father. And we can rest in Him.