Everybody! Sing with me!
The wise man built his house upon the rock,
The wise man built his house upon the rock,
The wise man built his house upon the rock,
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
And the house on the rock stood still.
Great job everyone! Now let’s spend a minute talking.
Who is the rock that we just sang about? Anyone? Too easy?
Let’s see what Helaman has to say about the rock:
“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (
Helaman 5:12).
That is about as clear as we can get.
Jesus Christ is the rock. Period. He is our sure foundation. The foundation that Helaman says we
must build our foundation upon. In fact, Bishop Davies talked about this very thing at the most recent General Conference. Link
here.
Let’s continue. Singing voices everyone…
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
And the house on the sand washed away.
Let’s talk about sand – nobody ever talks about the sand. Almost time – but not yet.
First, we need to make sense out of what the “foundation” is. Maybe we need to talk construction for a second. Most houses are built on some sort of foundation. The foundation is usually attached to bedrock. The rock keeps the foundation from sliding off when things get rough. Like this:
The house in the picture at the top of the page was also built on a foundation, but the foundation was set on sand. The sand washed out, and the foundation slipped off the sand.
My point? Our view of a foundation is not the same as the rock. Please don’t confuse the two, because then lots of things don’t make sense. Foundation is used two ways – 1) as the rock that we would call bedrock – which is the Savior, and 2) the foundation that is the gospel teachings and church programs etc.
For example, the things in this list are a few of the many things taught to be part of “a sure foundation” in the Gospel. (I added links to the teaching or scripture.)
It is a mighty list. An important list. But…even though they are all great things, they are not the rock. They are divine, and necessary, and they are part of the foundation – but that’s all.
Now, instead of two things to sing about, we have three.
1) Rock. (Foundation as per Helaman)
2) Foundation (As per modern teachings)
3) Sand.
Back to the sand. What is it?
The sand is everything and anything that is not Jesus Christ, or part of the foundation of the Gospel. There are lots of worldly examples:
Money – sand. (But not always)
Fame – sand.
Fashion – sand.
Power – sand.
Pride – sand.
Vanity – sand.
Self-applied labels – sand.
Sports and entertainment – sand.
Apostasy – sand.
Fancy cars, houses, boats, jewelry – sand, sand, sand and sand.
But there is also sand that we might not consider *sand:
Geneology
Scouting
Relief Society
Food Storage
Health and fitness
Government
Book of Mormon Archaeology
etc.
Hold on now, it’s gonna get crazy, because these things can be sand as well:
Your Ward Family
Gospel Knowledge
President Monson
Church History
Temples
Joseph Smith
…and yes…
The Book of Mormon
I can hear the screams of “sacrilege” already. Before you start tearing your clothes, or typing up an indignant comment, hear me out.Every one of those things in that last group could be part of our foundation, rather than sand. They aren’t the
rock, but they can be more than
sand. What is the distinction?
It depends on where those things take you.
If you have a great love for your Ward Family, but your testimony stops there, it is sand. Good supportive friends do not equal a testimony of the Savior. But they can help lead you there.
If we have a great fondness for family history, but our testimony ends there, it is sand.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said this:
“Make sure your testimony is built upon a solid foundation of faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Even though we enjoy the fellowship of the Saints and have strong feelings about the inspired programs of the Church, we must remember that we have only one sure anchor for our souls. (link
here)Did you catch that? Fellowship and programs are not the rock.
We can love temples in general, or have a favorite. We can love what goes on inside them. But if our love for the temple does not deepen our faith in the Savior, then our love for the temple is sand.
We can have a favorite Apostle or Prophet, but if we do not make the testimonial connection that these men are representatives of the Rock, the Savior Jesus Christ, they are merely sand to us. Very wonderful sand, but sand nonetheless.
A testimony of Thomas Monson, or Joseph Smith does not offer safety unless that testimony links to a deeper testimony of the Savior. It is not enough to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. It is surely a great place to start, but eternally inadequate.
And finally, the Book of Mormon. We can love the book, we can study it endlessly. We can make a lifetime pursuit out of trying to figure out where it all took place and find evidence. We can memorize it from cover to cover. But, if we fail to make the connection that it is another testament of Jesus Christ, then we missed the entire point, and the Book of Mormon loses its greatest value – and becomes sand in our hands.
Every one of the things listed can increase our testimony of the Savior, and be part of a sure foundation which is anchored to rock. If they don’t increase our testimony of the Savior, they are merely very excellent sand.
It truly is all about the rock.
“Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel.
He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.” (
D&C 50:44)
——-
Let’s finish up with one more verse:
The wise man built a strong house with a solid foundation attached directly to the bedrock,
The wise man built a strong house with a solid foundation attached directly to the bedrock,
The wise man built a strong house with a solid foundation attached directly to the bedrock,
And no measly storm is knocking it down.
(Should I send it to the General Primary Board?)
*Elder Oaks once referred to these types of things as “Gospel Hobbies” in his Conference talk “Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfalls.” I highly recommend it.
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I’m sharing this on my blog because it’s amazing and deserves to be shared. I hope you don’t mind. 🙂
I’m sharing this one. I’m grateful for facebook which connected me to my friend. And my friend connected me to you. And now I’m going to connect you to my other non Mormon friends,because you got it together!
I hope my Mormon friends will read this too Makes me sing. The song I’m singing is” How Firm A Foundation”.
Fantastic blog post, as usual!
This is an awesome post, love your blog!
Right. That’s why I wrote this:”Every one of those things in that last group could be part of our foundation, rather than sand. They aren’t the rock, but they can be more than sand.
Spot On!
That is one of my all time favorite messages from Elder Oakes.
Bruce R. McConkie talked about “gospel hobbies” at least a decade before Elder Oakes used the term. Just sayin’.
To tweak your analogy a bit, I’d prefer to think of your last list (Your Ward Family, …) not as sand, but as part of the foundation. They’re good, and strong, and help stabilize the building, but unless the foundation is tied down to the bedrock, it ultimately isn’t enough.
This may be one of my favorite posts you have done. That may be because I feel it so much speaks to me right now. I have been a member of the church my entire life. Most of that time I spent active and trying to do the things I should. I did experience times of inactivity but even in those times I never doubted the goodness and rightness of the gospel, I just didn’t want to live it.
With current life circumstances and all that is going on around me I have been forced recently to evaluate my testimony and my relationship with Jesus Christ. I have become very aware that my rock has not been Christ. I may have spent a lot of time in my life implementing all those good things that are part of the foundation but my roots and the heart of all I have done have not been in Christ. The way I think about it is my testimony and my faith have been very superficial. I put on the good show but that’s all it was.
I am also finding that it is an incredibly difficult place to be. I am currently struggling to find my faith and I really feel “young in years of faith” as Elder Holland refereed to it. I feel like I am at the beginning, learning it all. With all the struggles of life right now and trying to be a wife and a mother of four, it is not easy to put in the hard work necessary to have that relationship with my Savior.
In reading your post it just made me think how important it is to teach our children not only about all those good things that help build the foundation. It is important to do those things and to teach habits now. It is important too though to teach our kids why and to help them know the importance of building a relationship with the Savior. I would have never thought that I could be a member my whole life and not really have that. It happens though and now I want to do what I can to spare my kids having to deal with that later in their lives.
I have the desire though and that’s the start of it all. Elder Holland’s talk (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng) was inspiring and gave hope to someone like me who currently feels like my faith and testimony are seriously lacking. I am learning to “hold the ground you have already won”. I am working to build on the bit of faith I have. I am working hard to build that relationship with my Savior and make him that rock you speak of. Because I know now, that without that, I have nothing. Thank you so much for your inspired posts!
Thanks for the post and for the visual! I find it interesting that I read this verse in Helamen just before I came to check out your blog. I think it’s time to re-memorize it and seriously evaluate my foundation.
As I was pondering this verse, and my foundation, I realized that building it is a slow process. Not to be achieved in a day, a week, a month, or even a year, but over years. And that it’s also necessary to check it for cracks and add reinforcements and change the landscaping when necessary, to maintain the integrity of our foundation.
Lynn says you write some good stuff. I agree, this is one of your best posts yet. Gospel living can be so busy we can forget the Rock that can and should really rock our world. Christ gives meaning and hope and joy no matter what life pummels us with. Without him it’s all pointless.
You forgot to add the MMM blog to the “sand” list…
I’ve been saying this for years! Anything that doesn’t further your faith in Jesus Christ is a distraction from what is eternally important and should be eliminated. BYU-TV (or any TV in general), while a possible good resource, is totally sand in my book. It serves as a huge distraction and doesn’t afford us the quiet, reflective opportunities needed to receive revelation from God, something we should be getting every single day. Watching movies, reading books, playing video games, crafting, various recreational organizations and clubs, working out…etc…if those things don’t further your faith in Jesus Christ, you should either restructure the activity so it will, or get rid of it.
I use Elder Oaks’ talk “Good, Better, Best” talk as my guide for these things. Reading books can be good. Reading your scriptures is better. Studying your scriptures like you’re studying for a final exam in college is best. Watching a wholesome movie is good. Watching a church movie is better. Watching General Conference is best. You know? The Lord asks us for exact obedience. There is no gray area.
Perhaps I am wrong but the basic tenet that I end up going back to in the midst of storms is that I am a child of my Heavenly Father and I will try to go where He leads. I once attended a class of a popular BYU religion professor who said that it was through Christ that God answers prayers. I wondered then why we even bothered to pray to Heavenly Father if it was Christ who was answering them. I was offended because it was my prayers to my Heavenly Father started about 8 years old that led to my conversion to the gospel when I was a teenager. When I am in doubt, I go back to my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
I felt exactly as you do! And was confused until I read “The Grandeur of God” by Jeffery R. Holland. Now I picture me on earth and Heavenly Father in Heaven and Christ as the one and only thing that can connect us! I picture Heavenly Father as the roots, Christ as the vine that reaches down to earth, and me as their fruit. Does that make sense, things only stick in my head if I have an image to associate with them. Thus, the professor was right, we (as fallen and imperfect beings) have no ability to call upon God for help- except through the Atonement and Christ’s willingness to be an Advocate or Mediator for us. God grants the blessings- but it is only through Christ that we can receive them (like the roots get the water but can’t get it to the fruit without the vine). Does this help? I hope so. I struggled for a long time to understand this too.
I think this is your best post yet.
A resounding amen.
Thanks for taking the time to ponder this, write it up and then share!
Awesome post!
This reminds me of a woman who housed my husband during his mission. She was not a member, but loved Gordon B. Hinckley. She said he would do whatever he said, but she never joined the church. Her love for Gordon B. Hinckley was sand.
Excellent!! The Atonement saved my life and keeps me sane. Biggest rock in my life!
A powerful lesson in just a few words. Thank you.
Perspective… thanks for turning mine in the right direction today!
This is deep today.
Thanks, I love this post. It reminds me of The Divine Center by Steven R Covey
http://deseretbook.com/Divine-Center-Stephen-R-Covey/i/4920308
I love Helaman 5:12 and have such a strong testimony of building my foundation upon Jesus Christ. Due to an injured back(herniated discs in lumbar as well as a fractured vertebrae!), it is difficult to leave the house, which means I have missed a lot of church lately. However, despite not being able to attend (I really want to), my testimony, which I have built my entire life upon Christ has only strengthened. In fact, it’s never wavered even though I have felt many times that ‘the devil has sent his mighty winds’ and his hail storm continues to beat upon me.
As I sit here and think about it, my life has been filled with trials and I’m having a hard time figuring out when and how I was able to build my foundation in the face of the struggles thrown in my path. Interesting. Now I have to go ponder it.
I really appreciate this analogy and examples. You made some excellent points. Thank you!
I am so going to use huge parts of this (only because just reading it would make me feel guilty) next time I have a talk or lesson about the Savior. Or rocks. Or sand. I’ll fit it in. I’ll give you credit 😉
Exactly who will you give the credit to? An anonymous blog writer? haha (actually I’ll be dong the same thing!)
Great jobon putting into words and visuals EXACTLY what I needed and will be using with my YW lesson next month on testimonies.
Well done sir.
And yes, please submit to the General Primary board. They never get any mail.
Helaman 5:12 is my favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon. And for just the reason you pointed out. Thank you for the great links! Good Sabbath to you!
I think this is what the General Authorities have been trying to tell us over the past several conferences. Thanks for the reminder…
Just what I needed this Sunday morning. Thanks MMM!
Yes, you should. And a copy to Steve Martin so he can transcribe it for the banjo.
Long ago, in a ward far, far away, one of my friends remarked that she loved to do genealogy, because dead people are so much easier to get along with. (I knew some of those people she had to get along with. Sweet but infuriating.) She acknowledged that it was a gospel hobby, but it kept her sane. And certain people alive.