Parables Part 3 - On What is Your House Built?
Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Luke 6:47-49)
I am not particularly handy, when I try to fix something mechanical, I usually break it and make it worse and then have to pay someone to fix what I broke as well as the original problem. One of the best examples of this is when I was trying to see if a light switch worked. I took it apart, unscrewed the wires and then in a moment of brilliance touched the two ends together creating pretty sparks and blowing out the circuit it was attached to. On the one hand I knew the switch worked, on the other I almost burned my house down. From that point forward, and because of several other instances of mechanical brilliance, my wife told me I was no longer allowed to “fix” things around the house. Even though I have no mechanical prowess, I can at least say I know the importance of a good foundation when building a structure. When we were moving to Gunnison we went house hunting and saw an old house that had very uneven floors. When we found the door that led to the crawl space under the house I had to investigate for fun. I found four different items forming the foundation under the house. There was an old rock wall supporting one part of the house, some cinder blocks another, several tree trunks that were holding up various parts of the floor, and a big steel beam running down the center that created a raised floor you could see and feel when you were walking through the upstairs. This scared me, because it meant the house had foundation problems which would be expensive to keep up or repair as time went on. My wife and I looked at each other and immediately knocked that house off the list because we didn’t want a house with a poor foundation.
On what is your spiritual house built? Do you have a strong spiritual foundation for your life, family, ministry, relationships, career, and so on? If not, may I suggest based on this passage, that your foundation may be built on the wrong thing. What is the proper foundation? According to Jesus it is hearing and obeying His Word. When this is our foundation the storms of life will not disturb our house. When we hear His Word but do not obey Him, then the storms of life will cause our house to fall, and the fall will be great. James has something to say about this as well. James 1:22-25 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” If we look into God’s Word and do not follow, apply, obey, or do what it says, then we might as well look in a mirror and forget what we saw. However, when we look into the perfect law of liberty, continue in it, and obey what we are told, then we will be blessed.
If you and I are anything alike, there have been many situations in our lives where our house was beaten on by a storm in life. There have even been times where I was shaken to the core and my house moved, or at least it felt like it. However, my house has never fallen, not because of my own strength or greatness but because my wife and I, and our family, have always built our house on the rock of Jesus Christ. I am not saying we always obey or are by any stretch of the imagination perfect Christians. What I am saying is that I can attest to the truth of Jesus words. When our lives are built upon the rock of His Word, then our lives will stand the tests we experience through His grace and strength. If our house is built on anything else, it will fall. What is your life built on?
Image Borrowed From: Biblestudy1.com
