There are expressions in the Bible that have become so familiar to my ears that at times I do not even stop to think about the meaning contained in them.
In the previous chapter, we touched on the foundation of happiness. It is logical, understandable, and vivid. But what does it mean? What does it look like in my life? What changed in my thinking when I read about it? If I answer honestly, nothing did, because I already knew about it. The chapter merely reminded me of a familiar truth.
I believe it is worth stopping to consider how clearly we understand what is being discussed. After all, knowing verses from the Bible does not necessarily mean understanding them or living by them.
What is the meaning of the expression ‘to build on the Rock’? How should we understand that ‘Christ is the Foundation’? Try to explain it in such a way that I can understand and see whether I have such a foundation. Reveal to me the essence and meaning of what is written, and demonstrate it in your own life so that everything becomes clear to me.
To have Christ as the Foundation means to possess His character, to know His Word and His teaching, to live according to the light received, to understand God’s will for me, to have a pure heart clothed in love, and to maintain a personal relationship with Christ. It means to be guided by the same mind and feelings that were in Jesus. And none of this comes in a single moment. It is a process.
If you think that you can simply read about love and happiness now and that all of it will appear within you, you are mistaken. In that case, you are like a person sitting on the couch in front of the television with a sandwich, watching sports and considering himself a champion in every competition because he thinks he knows better than anyone else what should be done and how.
Practice, however, differs from theory, and in our school it accompanies every student. Yet it begins with a sincere prayer to God, asking Him to teach me, reveal the depths of the subject, establish me in the truth, write His laws in my heart, instruct me in what we are studying, and show me its meaning and prospects. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Some students complain to me that it takes a great deal of time to grasp the meaning and depth of one chapter, and then they must study the next one, and another, and another. It is impossible to keep up. But why are you in such a hurry? Who told you that you must rush? What matters is to take heed, delve deeply into the teaching, ask God for help from above, and move as quickly as the heart allows. There is a great difference between those who read hurriedly and those who try to penetrate to the heart of things by reading and rereading difficult passages and comparing what they have studied with what is happening in their own lives. Although the effect and perception differ from person to person, everyone benefits from the knowledge received.
To build on Jesus means to know Him personally and to speak with Him about every little matter in life that troubles the soul or remains unclear. The more often I seek Christ’s counsel, the more clearly I see His involvement and His answers for me. He knows how to speak with His friends. This is the most vital knowledge of all—the knowledge of Christ. For if I do not possess it, I am simply spiritually dead, while all other fields of knowledge will help me only in this life. The Lord Himself said in His prayer for us in John 17:2–3: ‘As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.’
To know Thee and Jesus—this is what it means to build on the Rock.
Christ also told parables showing that many believers would bear His name and do certain things in that Name, yet Jesus would not know them. Even the five foolish virgins, whose only failure was that they had not provided themselves with oil, will be declared strangers—people He does not know.
The study of love and happiness is a very serious discipline. It is not something we can merely study; it is vitally necessary for everyone to understand it and accept it with all the heart. For if the Lord reproves me for being unhappy, He does so not to humiliate me in any way, but to show me the way out. God needs a happy people among whom love reigns. Among this people, everyone finds a special joy in agape and draws this strength from Christ.
In Deuteronomy 28, through verse 14, we find God’s blessings for His faithful children. Then follows a description of the curses and diseases that will overtake those who ‘servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things’ (Deuteronomy 28:47). Is this what you want? Do you plan to continue living unhappily amid an abundance of light, gifts, and blessings? Perhaps it is time to come to your senses.
I am not speaking about everyone, friends, but there are some among you who understand what I mean.
The apostle Paul once made this statement in 1 Corinthians 15:34: ‘Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.’
Please come to the little Laodicean shop and buy for yourself what is offered there. We studied this a little earlier. Christ is coming, and what is happening in the world now makes this very clear to us. Things will not be as they were before. That time has passed, and the opportunities have changed. From this point on, everything will become more difficult and more interesting. But now is precisely the time to know Christ. It is vitally important to have Him in the heart. And if He is not there, I feel sorry for you, even if you are in the church. Emotional experiences while attending a worship service are not evidence of God’s presence in my heart. But my prayers about my own decisions, my requests for a new heart, my personal fellowship with the Lord in those prayers, my desire to know God’s will, and my faithfulness to His commandments—all of this says a great deal. And as a pledge of salvation, the Holy Spirit is given to me. He conveys the meaning of everything to my mind and teaches me how to live rightly.
Simply bearing the name of Jesus or remembering the date of one’s baptism is not enough. I know people who listen to present truth, read appeals, become acquainted with revelations, agree with them, and change nothing. The habit of doing nothing and merely attending gatherings and meetings has become the normal way of life for believers. No initiative is welcomed. The attitude is, ‘If you want to do it, do it yourself, and we will watch.’ I am not writing about the whole world, but about the community in which I live and move.
I read the message to Laodicea and see that it is about us. Yes, about us. And it is with such poor, unhappy little people that the Lord intends to bring the history of this world to its close! Could He have gotten something wrong?
But God has a plan. It is the coming crisis. What we failed to learn in favorable times, we will have to learn under life-threatening conditions. When all our idols are destroyed, all our structures of straw are swept away, and all our possessions are plundered, then we will understand that the Foundation is still intact and that it is still possible to build something strong upon it very quickly. Perhaps that is when the knowledge we are receiving today will prove useful. It is also possible that it will be too late.
A narrow path called ‘Love, Happiness, Friendship’ is offered to us, and the Lord Himself teaches us and leads us along it as a close Friend. Will I follow this path? The decision belongs to you and me, my friend.
But we must build now. The Rock will withstand every disaster. Yet hurricanes and rushing waters will sweep away everything that is not fastened to the Rock, that does not hold on to It, and that has been built carelessly, even though it stands on the Rock.
I think it is worthwhile to stop once more, look within, and search my heart so that I may understand upon Whom and with what materials I am building. It is important to realize how strong those materials are. God expects happiness from His people, and it will come.
Bible verses for this chapter:
John 11:25; 14:6; 17:2–3; 1 John 5:12–13, 20; 1 Corinthians 3:13–15; Deuteronomy 28:1–2, 15, 45–47; Psalms 1:1–3; 40:4; 84:4, 12