"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 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. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 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." Matthew 7:24-27 KJV
In this bit of Scripture, Jesus tells about two different men. They have similar stories; they both are building a house. The only difference is their choice in foundations, but the thing is, their choice in foundation alone is what determines whether their house will stand. Clearly, the man who built his house upon a rock had more success than the man who built his house upon the sand.
Spoiler alert: Jesus was not talking about building literal houses. He was talking about our lives and what we place our hope in. Jesus was saying that those who place their hope in the one, true God (THE Rock) are the wise ones; however, those who place their hope in the things of the world are likened unto a foolish man. It is honestly pretty cool that Jesus chose to talk about building houses as a parallel to our lives. We are always building and working toward something, and with this story, Jesus gave instruction as to how to build toward that goal.
Truth be told, I know a lot of people who have built their houses on the sand so to speak. They ignore God and choose to pursue things that have no eternal value and I would argue that even have no real value in their lives right now. Without realizing the intensity of what they are doing, they follow what Satan wants them to follow. The good news for these same individuals is that it is never too late to start over and build their house on the Rock this time around.
Jesus goes as far to explain exactly WHY the foundation determines how and if our house will stand. He says that when the storms came the wise man's house stood tall but the foolish man's fell. What is interesting to me is that Jesus could have just said that it fell and leave it at that but no. He goes as far as to say that "great was the fall of it." I think Jesus added this in because He wanted to emphasize that it does not matter how hard you work or how hard you try. If you do not start with God as the foundation, you are going to fail every single time.
Enough about failure though, let's talk about a life founded on the Rock. When you center everything in your life around God and His plans for your life, you thrive. Rain may come and wind may blow, but you have the promise and the assurance that Christ has got your back. You can live in complete freedom and peace because sin no longer has a hold on you. You no longer look toward the world for your validation or your self worth. You look to the cross and see that Jesus paid the ultimate price so you could build your house on the Rock.
What is your foundation? Is it the Rock or is it the sand? If it is the Rock, keep building and growing into who God has called you to be. If it is the sand or in other words the world, you can always run back to the Rock. Let Him tear down those walls and build something beautiful and lasting.
