WHAT IS YOUR FOUNDATION?

Romans 12:2 states, ”And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” As a counselor, I use this verse quite a bit with my clients. It meshes well with cognitive behavioral therapy which basically states that our thoughts control our emotions which control our behaviors. Thus, as we renew our minds with the Word of God, our emotions begin to mirror those of Christ, and our problematic behaviors (aka sin patterns) can begin to change. But what does the process of transformation look like?

In grad school, I had to read Dallas Willard’s text, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives for one of my classes. Interestingly, Willard has a lot to say about transformation and repentance. In one section Willard writes, “Paul understood redemption as a progressive sequence of real human and divine actions and events that resulted in the transformation of the body and the mind. For him these were actions—events—real experiences we humans have, real parts of our lives, so real we cannot ignore them” (111).

All too often I consider my salvation a “one and done” experience…and it is. In Ephesians 2, Paul explains that by grace we are saved through faith, and it is the gift of God.  We know from the Scriptures that God doesn’t change (James 1:17). In fact, even Balaam--a pagan prophet who is famous in the Bible because his donkey spoke and saved his life--acknowledges the immutability of God in Numbers 23:19, “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” God saved us through the gift of His grace. He doesn’t change His mind. I am saved once and forever.

So then how does transformation factor into our salvation and our new life in Christ? To this end, I go back to what Mike refers to as the “Holy Blow Torch Passage” of 1 Corinthians 3:10-12:

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I [Paul] laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, [d]precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test [e]the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Our transformation occurs when we build on the foundation Christ laid in us (our salvation) with His new and improved “building materials.”

Maybe it would help to think of it this way: Before we were saved, we had a shoddy foundation. It was built on sand. It was cracked and unstable (Matthew 7:26-27). It was only a matter of time before the houses we had built on it collapsed entirely. The insides of our houses even revealed our damaged foundation. Our sheet rock and dry wall puckered and broke. The doors and windows wouldn’t shut. Even though we tried to cover up the damage with fancy trim work and a new coat of paint, it was a pointless endeavor and the damage just kept reappearing.

Once Christ saved us, He came in and poured us a new foundation. That’s it. We’re saved. However, we still need to build our houses. We can’t just pick up the broken parts of the old carpentry, put them on the new foundation, and hope that we will outlast the storm.

That’s where transformation begins. We don’t need to use the broken and shattered remains of our old houses/selves anymore! We now have access to the most amazing building materials-- what Paul describes as precious stones, gold, and silver! Why would we ever go back to building with idols or the flawed thinking of hay, straw, or broken sticks??? Even the kids’ story of the Three Little Pigs tells us what will happen if we build with those materials.

Yet, that is what some of us do. And I’ve been guilty of it myself. Whether it’s a lack of information, laziness, busyness or some combination of all three, sometimes I think it’s better just to grab the broken pieces of my old house, patch them back together, and use them to build on my new foundation. Maybe I grab old bits of broken glass that distort my vision and make me think I can live this life in my own strength. Maybe I try and hang “drywall idols” like financial security or academic accomplishments—really anything that gives me significance or security other than Christ. My building may look okay on the surface, but underneath the paint, the sheetrock is saturated with black mold. Living there is a health hazard! Pieces of my old house just don’t cut it. They just don’t belong with me anymore.

The only option is throw out the old and begin again with Christ’s building materials! And just like Home Depot is a great place to start for building supplies, repentance and practicing the spiritual disciplines reveal a storehouse of the best “spiritual life” building materials possible. My time is the currency that allows me to purchase new “glass” for my windows so I can see things more clearly and from God’s perspective. Making time for prayer creates the space in which Christ can create a precious mosaic on my “walls” which makes my house both beautiful and secure. The analogies are endless.

I hope you will join me in seeking transformation. We can lay down our idols and start over with new building materials. Let’s repent and walk away from what we built in the past. It wasn’t sound anyway. Let’s seek after Christ and the things that are most important to Him. They make the best possible building materials as we seek to be transformed into the new creations God has called us to be (1 Cor 5:17).