Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchনমুনা

For far too long we have stood on flimsy foundations, built by our own doing, whether it be our trust in money, drugs, another person or our own intellect or talents, and we don’t realize until it’s too late that the flimsy wooden bridge we are standing on is about to give way. Not only will it break down but we will find ourselves stuck in the pit below the bridge. What good did those flimsy foundations do for us?

In times of tribulations, what do we put our trust in? It’s like the story of the big bad wolf and the three little pigs; the house of straw and the house of sticks were, with such ease, blown away, but the house of bricks the wolf couldn’t bring it down no matter how hard he huffed and puffed. Proverbs 10:25 says, “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.” Why is it that the righteous will stand firm forever? What makes them so special? It’s not because of anything they have done but because of the fact that their foundation is built firmly on the rock - the rock is the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The thing with foundations is not only they need to be built on a firm foundation but they must be singular - to have a structure built on two foundations would be disastrous. There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” as St. Paul says in Ephesians 4:5, to build our foundation on anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ is to build on something doomed from the start, something poisonous to our spiritual lives and relationship with God.

“Do not be afraid.Stand firmand you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring”...“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteousstand firmforever”...“If you do notstand firmin your faith, you will not stand at all”...“Stand firm, and you will win life”...“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,stand firm. Let nothing move you”...“Be on your guard;standfirmin the faith; be courageous; be strong”...“Now it is God who makes both us and youstand firmin Christ” [Exodus 14:13; Proverbs 10:25; Isaiah 7:9; Luke 21:19; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 2 Corinthians 1:21].

Trust in Him, build your firm foundation on Him…after all, He was a “carpenter” [Mark 6:3] and a “carpenter’s son” [Matthew 13:55] and look what He did - He built a bridge between God and man by using two pieces of wood that has been unshakably in place for thousands of years.

“If therefore we call Christ, the Savior of us all, Lord, let us do the things which He says. For He teaches us Himself what the benefit is of our being willing to do that which is commanded: and what the loss of our refusing to obey: for He says, ‘Every one that hears My words and does them, is like a man who builds a house, and firmly places its foundations upon the rock:’ while he who does not obey, he also is like a man building a house, but who has taken no care for its stability. For he who is obedient holds a thoroughly firm position in everything that is honorable and good, by reason of his being not so much a hearer of the law, as a doer of its works: he resembles therefore a house firmly settled, and having a foundation that cannot be shaken, so that even though temptations press upon him, and the savageness of the passions that dwell within us assail him like some winter torrent, or a waterflood, he will sustain no serious loss. But he who merely inclines his ear to what Christ says, but stores nothing up in his mind, nor performs anything that is commanded, he, on the other hand, is like a house just ready to fall. For he will be led away at once into things unseemly whenever pleasure allures him and leads him into the pitfalls of sin.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, 5th century Patriarch of Alexandria, theologian known as the “Pillar of Faith” and a “doctor of the Church”]