If men build

A building needs a strong foundation, if it is to withstand natural disasters, storms or whatever comes it way. So important is the foundation to a building that during the Sermon on the Mount, Christ compares those who do as he teaches unto "a wise man, which built his house upon a rock" and those who hear his teachings, but do not follow them unto "a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand". When the storms came the first house did not fall because "it was founded upon a rock" whereas the house of the foolish man crumbled (Matthew 7:24-27). Helaman 5:12  teaches that if we want the storms of life to have "no power over [us] to drag [us] down to the gulf of misery and endless wo" then we must have the "rock of our redeemer, who is Christ" as our foundation because it "is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (emphasis add) Christ is a sure foundation, but for this promise to be true, we need to build. To put it simply, a foundation without a building is a big rock in the ground.

So how do we build on the foundation of Christ? And what do we build? Alma 26:5-7 provides the answer. Ammon here is speaking of the Lamanites who converted as being "gathered into the garners". To build upon the rock of our Redeemer, we need to become converted to his gospel, increase in faith, and strengthen our testimonies that Christ is the savior of the world, like these Lamanites. These garners then can be compared to our own conversion to the teachings of Christ.

When we first learn about Christ our garners of conversion may simply be a shack that cannot withstand much, but as we develop a personal relationship with our savior we build and transform a tiny shack into a mighty and impenetrable fortress. In this mighty fortress prayer and scripture study keep us anchor to the foundation and are also the bricks and the mortar that build the walls. As we keep the commandments we reinforce windows, and doors. As we continue to do as Christ taught, we build up towers. As we diligently follow the teachings of Christ, we not only build upon a sure foundation, but also build an impenetrable fortress of our conversion, which will shelter us from the storms that come and the fiery darts of the adversay.