When building a house, it’s vital that the foundations are solid. And that often requires concrete. Concrete is made by mixing cement, sand, gravel and water. If the mix isn’t right, the cement can’t become concrete. It’s the same with the foundations of our faith life. We need to build our faith on solid foundations. Jesus used the example of the man who built his house on a rock and the one who built his house on the sand. The house built on the rock obviously survived the storm while the house on the sand didn’t. When our foundations are strong, then we can survive the storms we go through. Our faith will continue through tough times, it won’t collapse as soon as a storm approaches. But how do we make sure our foundations are strong? We need to be grounded in God’s Word. Just as we need food for our bodies to survive, we need God’s Word as food for our souls. But there’s more to it. Jesus said: ‘everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…’ We can’t just read the Word of God, we need to obey it too. We need to be living it out. We’re told: ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says’ (James 1:22 NIV). The Bible is alive and active (take a look at Hebrews 4:12). Reading it should change us; we should act differently because of what we’ve read. So in order for our foundations to be solid, we need to be mixing time spent reading God’s Word and our obedience in living it out. Then our faith will be able to withstand the storms that come our way.

What now?
Every time you eat a meal or snack today, read a Bible verse too.