Knowing Jesus as your Savior is the first building block of a life that lasts. It is that reality that is the basic truth to a rock-solid life.
Building Block #2: The Stability in Jesus Christ
If the first building block to a life that lasts is knowing the reality of Jesus, the second building block is relying on the stability that is in Christ Jesus.
Take a look at 1 John 3:9: "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."
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What that means, literally, is that a real, confessing Christian does not sin. But, of course, we all know believers who sin. I wish I could tell you that I never sin or that I'll never sin again. But I'm not all that confident, because I know my nature, and I know the temptations. And, yes, we all sin. 10
But there's a difference between the true child of God who is building a life upon the rock and one who isn't. The difference is that the person whose life has been or is being changed by the power of Jesus Christ does not continue to live and practice and embrace sin. There's a discomfort when we sin caused by the conviction of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Somebody once said that when we are saved Jesus fixes it not so that we can't sin anymore but that we can't enjoy it anymore. There is a grain of truth in that thought. When we are saved we gain conviction and a check is placed upon us-like the warning light that lights up on the dashboard of a car — when we cross the line. The Holy Spirit lives within us, and we can't continue to do what we used to do. We're transformed. We're changed by the power of Jesus Christ. We're founded on the bedrock of Christianity.
By contrast, a person who blatantly persists in sin is building a life on sand. That person does not acknowledge the reality of Jesus and has no foundation on the rock of a substantial relationship with and in Christ.
Jesus is to be the foundation of our lives. In fact, the Bible often refers to Christ as the chief cornerstone — the indispensable and fundamental component to build our lives upon.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 11
There is no rationalizing — no other way — than to found your life upon the rock. Only in this way can Jesus change our lives. And not only that, but our belief and our confession in Jesus will result in Jesus changing how we relate to other people. People that we hated, we will love. Check out 1 John 5:1: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him."