GodReflection: Power Words

My dad built houses and church buildings. I still remember watching the construction crews dig deep to pour the concrete foundation. In the rocky New Mexico foothills, that was not deep deep.

For our church and office building in Brazil, it took 176 concrete pilings, each 26 feet long and weighing 3,307 pounds driven into the ground on which concrete encased pilings would support a foundation. That was a deep dig.

In both cases, the most important part of construction was to make sure—without a doubt—the construction sat upon a strong foundation.

There is a thought constantly in my mind over the past few weeks. It nags like a mosquito that surveys my ears during the night. Perhaps it’s no big deal to others. However, it has become a big deal to me.

It is the fear that I make Scripture my foundation rather than Jesus.

Am I more careful to set aside time to read Scripture than I am at seeking to see Jesus’ values flow freely from my 24/7 life?

Since diaper days, my life is among Christian people. Their vocabulary is starting to bother me. I hear a vocabulary filled with words like truth, Bible, church, Christian, right, wrong, and worship. I hear the vocabulary of Scripture as the dominant theme.

I fear I hear more Bible than Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong. The only dart I throw is a boomerang that circles back in my direction. I fear my vocabulary is more of a church speak than one that exalts Jesus. After all, I am the one who spends time in reflection on a list power words. I build without a foundation when I fail to tie each power word to Jesus.

Here is my concern. Is it possible to build my life around the foundation of Scripture while spending little time focused upon Jesus?

Scripture is import. It is not Jesus. It takes me to Jesus. Scripture is not the foundation. Jesus is the foundation.

Whatever religious vocabulary or power words I choose to use I want them to intertwine with Jesus. He is the noun. All other words are mere verbs, adjectives, and participles.

I want to make it a point to give Jesus a more predominant place in my speech. Since my walk with God depends on Jesus, shouldn’t he be at the center of my vocabulary?

One morning I came upon a scene in a new housing development adjacent to my neighborhood. What was the day before the frame of a new home lay in a twisted pile of wood as the result of a windstorm.

The workers failed to tie the walls properly to the foundation. Sounds like a story Jesus told. The winds blew and “great was the fall thereof.”

Foundation is only a power word in my life if it equates to Jesus. Jesus gives Scripture its power. His absence leaves only a book of ethics. My prayer is to have the wisdom to build upon the foundation of Jesus so that the walls of my earthly walk can withstand the winds.

Stay Tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on the Power Word Foundation

Gary@Godreflection.org