Sure Foundation - 3 Nephi 14:21-27

Temples provide a sure foundation.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand—
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

(Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 14:21 - 27)

There are obvious applications of the first few verses of stating that one must belong to the true religion, and that there will be those that profess that they followed Christ, but didn’t. However, I’m concerned with how does the scripture apply to me. How do I keep myself from being in a state where I will call out, “Lord, Lord…” and then have the Lord respond as above?

A good start would be to follow the admonition in verse 23 to not, “work iniquity.” The answer comes in the verses just below. Where is my foundation? What is the rock that I need to build on? 1 Corinthians 10:4 states, “and that Rock was Christ.” Also in Ephesians 2:20 we read, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;”

If I put my trust and faith in the Rock of my Redeemer, I can not fail. Alternatively, if I put my trust in my own arm, or in my own abilities, or in someone other than the Lord, I am on sandy soil.

I’m grateful to understand that I’m not expected to make it through all of life’s vicissitudes on my own. I can build my spiritual house on a sure foundation and withstand the storms that are inherent in day to day living.

As a practical application, I found this experiment on-line here “Put some sand in a bucket. Place a small block on the top of the sand, and gradually saturate the sand with water. The block still rests on the surface. Now, strike the bucket sharply, and watch the block of wood quickly drop. This is called "liquefaction". The same can happen to houses built.”