The Foundations
Upon Which We Build
The choices we make throughout our life determine the
foundations upon which we build our lives. Those foundations will in large part
determine the outcomes throughout our mortal stay here on this earth.
Constantly we have the freedom to choose between wisdom and foolishness, virtue
and vice, moral and immoral, honesty and deception, to worship God or to
worship the adversary (Satan), to truly follow Jesus by greater emulation or
mock Him by cursing His sacred and holy name by acts of blatant denial and rebellion against His teachings.
There are many choices we make every day but we are not
without direction in making those choices. Jesus taught the way to live in
Matthew chapters five through seven. A prophet of God in our day made the
following statement regarding this quintessential discourse:
In his Sermon on the Mount the Master has given us
somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect, or what might
be said to be "an autobiography, every syllable of which he had written
down in deeds," and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own
lives. (Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, p.56)
Immediately following this discourse the Savior made this
statement in reference to how we receive those teachings. Matthew 7:24-27:
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a
rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon
a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
We are wise indeed when we hearken to and follow these
teachings, and very unwise to pay no heed to them. It is a conscious choice we
make as we read and study them. By the choices we make we build our lives
either “upon a rock” or “upon the sand.”
Another latter-day apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ has
given this sage counsel:
Let us remember that there is an adversary who personally
seeks to disrupt the work of the Lord. . . We must choose who to follow. Our
protection is as simple as deciding individually to follow the Savior, making
certain that we faithfully remain on His side. (Boyd K. Packer)
Jesus came to this life not for His sake but for ours, He
came to teach not only those who were present with Him but teach all who would come after Him how to live in peace and happiness. His life was one of rejection, a
man of sorrows, He suffered not only His own pains, sorrows and trials but all of ours
as well. He came to bear the burden of all the sins, weaknesses, infirmities,
frailties, sicknesses, inadequacies and incapacities that come upon us during this mortal life. He
taught us the principles by which to live that we have joy, peace and happiness
in this life in spite of all the challenges we inevitably would have to face.
He was not spared the grueling torture of the cruel Roman soldiers, the taunts
of the apostate Jewish leaders, the rejection of most of the people He taught
even one of His closest associates, an apostle, would betray Him and consent to His crucifixion. But through it
all it was never about Him, it was about us, He came for our sakes not His.
Into every life come rain and wind and storms, if a life has
not been built upon a solid foundation spiritually it will crumble no matter
how high a societal, political, or financial position that life holds. The fall
may not be public, it may not come while still living but it will come that is
most assured according to the words of the Savior.
It is an incontrovertible truth that little decisions over a
period time lead inevitably to major decisions that have significant impact in
our lives for good or for ill. Every choice we make contributes to the
foundation of life, some are more significant than others but all make their
contributions.
An ancient prophet by name of Nephi said this:
Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are
free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of
eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:23 BOM)
The Lord allows us our agency to choose what we desire be it
for good or for ill. He will never rob us of our most priceless gift, the
agency to make our own choices; He never forces us to do anything. Thus, we are
free to choose as we desire but the consequences are ours also. Another Book of
Mormon prophet said:
I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of
a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire,
whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men,
yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their
wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all
men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good
and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good
or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
(Alma 29:4-5, BOM)
God is a perfectly just God, He does not condemn anyone who
does not know good from evil or does not comprehend His laws and commandments.
Because He is Omniscient He knows better than we what we do and what we do not
understand, comprehend or know.
The world in which we live finds a dubious comfort in what
is determined to be legal through proper legislative edicts that do not conform to God’s
eternal unchanging laws. What man may “make” legal does not change the dictates
of a loving, benevolent God who desires to protect us from the foolishness of
designing men. The Decalogue, ten cryptic statements, includes the profound
wisdom of God and gives us direction in our lives in all areas.
1. Thou
shalt have no other gods before me; the Gods we worship come in many forms
but none can replace the God that created us and is our Eternal Father and has
the power to save within the confines of His given laws.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or
serve them; for I The Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those
who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and
keep My Commandments; cars, material possessions or anything of this world
has no power to save us in any condition thus God is a jealous (intolerant of
rivalry). He is the God over all such things because they cannot save us and bring us back
into His presence.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain;
to take something in vain is to make of it no worth or of no value. It is not just
profaning the Lord’s name but to have no reverence or respect for His name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor
your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh
day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it; worship
God on this day with all your heart, might, mind and soul. Keep the day holy as
is fitting and needful but some may be required to labor and they keep it holy
in their hearts and be sanctified by such.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; families are
intended to be made up of a loving father and mother who are worthy of that honor.
6. Thou shall not kill; to kill in this sense is an
act of the heart, there are many such as soldiers, police force, those
defending their family and loved one when killing may take place. When are we
held accountable for killing? Killing takes place in the heart long before it becomes an act that is
condemned by God. He and He alone will be the judge for He only knows fully our
intentions in the action we take.
7. Thou shall not commit adultery; the Savior taught
in His ministry that, “King James Version: "Ye have heard that
it was said by them of old time, Thou
shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart."
(Matthew 5:27-30) Also we read in the Jerusalem
Bible: "You have learned how it was said: You must not commit adultery.
But I say this to you: If a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart." And in the Book
of Mormon: "It is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman,
to lust after her, hath committed
adultery already in his
heart." (3 Nephi 12:27-30) The world we live in
seems to be saturated with the breaking of this vital commandment in the name of
lust as if it were a pardonable sin.
8. Thou shalt not steal; Theft has reached all new
heights with in our technological world where our own identity is not even
safe.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbour; Scores are the victims of those who had witness born against them
falsely and great are the miseries thereof for all so afflicted. This
commandment begs the question; Who is my neighbour? Maybe the answer is; all mankind.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's; the word
covet, as defined in the dictionary, means; to desire wrongfully,
inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others. Greed and
selfishness are the parents of covetousness.
An ancient Book of Mormon prophet offered this very sage
counsel:
And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye
may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot
number them.
But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not
watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and
observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have
heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye
must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. (Mosiah 4:29-30)
When we actively build our life’s foundation upon our
Savior, Jesus Christ, we cannot fall and we will always be firm in doing that
which is pleasing to Him, beneficial to others and to ourselves as well.
