Editorial June 13, 2016 Issue

A guide for building on the rock

David C. Kennedy

Every building needs a strong foundation. The same is true about the foundation we build our lives on. When you and I make choices in life, we may not think we’re building on something, but we are. Often without thinking about it, we establish our lives on what we believe to be real and beneficial—whether it’s in the activities of each day or in the bigger steps of finding a career, connecting with others, establishing a home, a family, and so on.

Christ Jesus knew what to build on, because he knew what was real. He startled the world of his day by demonstrating to all that reality was something quite apart from matter. He proved with his countless healings, for instance, that health isn’t dictated by matter. He showed in feeding several thousand people on more than one occasion that the supply needed to feed them didn’t come from matter. And in raising individuals from the dead, including his own resurrection, he demonstrated that even life itself has its source in God, Spirit—and not in the flesh. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

The words Jesus speaks in the Bible point to Spirit as the foundation for all our needs. In his teachings we find that Spirit is Life itself, the source of who we truly are. Spirit is our health and our unfailing provider. The supremacy and reliability of Spirit are made clear in Jesus’ marvelous teachings known as the Sermon on the Mount, in the Bible. Mary Baker Eddy wrote of this sermon: “No purer and more exalted teachings ever fell upon human ears than those contained in what is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount …. Indeed, this title really indicates more the Master’s mood, than the material locality” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 91).

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