The foundation of a house tells you how big the house can get. You can’t put a big house on a small or faulty foundation. It’ll collapse every time.

The same is true for your life. You can’t become all that God wants you to be on a faulty foundation. Here are some of the faulty foundations you may be tempted to build your life on:

• Popular culture. Some people think they’ll simply do what every other person is doing. If it’s popular, that’s what they’ll do too. Yet what’s popular today won’t be popular tomorrow. Basing your life on popular culture is like building a house on a constantly moving foundation. It doesn’t work!

• Tradition. Other people build their lives on what has always been done or whatever their parents did. That does make a little sense; tradition becomes tradition because it works. But no tradition lasts forever. It eventually wears out, becomes obsolete, and is invalid. In Mark 7 Jesus tells the Pharisees never to put tradition before truth. It’s a good reminder for all of us.

• Reason. God gave us the ability to reason; we need to use it. But our reason isn’t infallible. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (NIV). Even the smartest among us will falter sometimes. It’s to be expected. Only God can be trusted all the time.

• Emotions. Some build their lives on a feeling. If it feels right, they do it. But feelings lie—they lie all the time! You lie to yourself more than anyone else. If you live by your feelings, you’ll spend your life manipulated by your moods.

If it doesn’t work to build your life on popular culture, tradition, reason, or your emotions, what should you build your life on?

God’s Word. 

Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24 NIV).

Popular culture changes, traditions grow stale, reason can be faulty, and emotions lie. Yet God’s Word—his truth—never changes. 

You may not always understand God’s Word. You may not always like it. It won’t always be politically correct. But it’s the only thing stable enough to build your life upon.