The simplest and clearest definition of groundwork comes from Merriam-Webster. It means something done at an early stage that makes later work or progress possible.
In other words, if we don’t lay the groundwork, nothing else will get done. Not only that, nothing else can get done. It’s impossible without the groundwork.
What’s the groundwork for our Christian walk?
In John 13:38, Jesus speaks to Peter:
“Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”
With his question, Jesus was laying the groundwork for all Christianity. He knew that hours later he would give up his life for all humankind. Would the Christian faith have blossomed into what it is today without Jesus’ sacrifice? We can say with confidence, “No!”
A post on Facebook recently said, “If you get anything from the government for free, thank a taxpayer.”
The gift of salvation is freely given to us by Christ, but he had to pay a price, his life. He had to lay the groundwork so that we might enjoy the salvation that comes without cost to us.
Read Peter’s response to his denial of Christ in Matthew 26:75:
“And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.”
When families leave our church, do we blame them, or is there groundwork missing? When our children don’t cling to Jesus as adults, what happened to the groundwork they so desperately needed as adolescents? When churches shutter their doors, has groundwork been left undone?
Peter corrected his mistake, and he lived up to Jesus’ exhortation that he would be the rock on which Christ’s church was founded. He became part of the groundwork of modern believers.
Where does the work of Jesus in the modern church happen? In our Sunday school? On the mission field? In a better facility to accommodate more believers?
We need to search to see if there’s anything we’ve left undone. There’s still time to lay the groundwork for tomorrow. When we do, the church of Christ will expand beyond all today’s expectations.
It’s what’s under our feet that allows our hands to reach unto God.
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