A foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. Matthew 7:26. The Importance of a good foundation.
In Matthew chapter 7 verses 24-28 and Luke Chapter 6 verses 48 - 49 the master builder, Jesus himself, contrasts the differences between a well built foundation and a poorly installed foundation. The foundation of your home is the main support system for the entire structure. Everything is dependent upon the foundation for stability and for bearing the loads, both live and static.
As critical the foundation is, it often goes unnoticed. If it is doing its job properly we have no need to take note of it as the house stands firm. However, when things go awry symptoms will show themselves around the house; either slow steady cracking, or much worse, catastrophic failures of structural members.
In Luke 6:47 Jesus says, “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:” This man, Jesus describes as digging deep into the earth and laying the foundation upon a rock. In verse 49 however Jesus says, “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth:” This man may have taken the approach to building that the first two pigs took in the story of the three little pigs, he wanted the quick and easy way. He neglected to dig deep into the earth, he neglected to even build a foundation. Now what happens to these two houses when a weather event occurs? Fortunately we are provided with the answers by Jesus himself. There came a flood and the stream beat violently upon both of these houses. What do you think the outcome of the house with no foundation was? It immediately fell, and the ruin of that house was great! Now the other house with the well built foundation, what happened to it? Nothing; the stream could not shake it.
In our modern era most locales have restrictions for building in areas deemed to be floodplains. Some of these restrictions are so strict that it is blatantly obvious there is no possible way the area could flood. What if we are indirectly flooding our own foundations? Is that possible? Let’s look further.
How are the gutters and downspouts on your home? Where do they divert the water to? Many homes just direct the water to the ground usually right up against the house. Other downspouts might be piped into the foundation drain system. Our foundations need not be constantly bombarded with overwhelming amounts of water. We should have our gutters and downspouts designed in such a way that the excessive amounts of water we receive in a rainstorm are directed away from the critical member of our home - the foundation.
How is the grading of the landscape around your home? In many places in West Virginia we are not afforded the luxury of level ground. How can we divert some of the water runoff so it is not damaging our foundations, either by erosion or by hydrostatic pressure?
These are but a few of the foundation issues a Certified Home Inspector can help you identify. However, Jesus wasn’t merely speaking about home foundations, he was addressing a deeper issue with foundations of faith. While you are pondering the complexities of building foundations take a few minutes and examine your foundation as well! What do you base your faith in? One speaker has said he’s never met a true atheist, because everyone has a “little g” god: money, power, influence, etc. Are you putting your faith in any of these, or are you basing you faith in Christ Jesus and God Almighty, the God who “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
