Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great. (Matthew 7:24-27 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This simple parable of Jesus teaches some important truths about life. If we build our lives on solid ground we’ll be able to withstand anything—temptation, hardship, persecution, injustice—but if we build our lives on shaky ground we can expect to lose everything when hard times come. The rock is the word of God—the sand is the mindset of the world, our own thoughts and desires.
Anyone can build their life on the rock, anyone who hears the word of God and acts on it. It’s not enough to read the Bible or attend church, we have to live those concepts out in our lives. It’s a fine thing to attend church faith—it should be an important, non-negotiable part of our lives—but church attendance turns into an empty gesture when we do not act on the things we hear. Faith is action, and though we may say we have faith, unless it is acted upon, it’s not real faith. Like the first chapter of James warns, a double-minded man should not expect to receive anything from God.
The problem is that digging a foundation in rock is hard and time consuming; digging in sand is quick and easy. Whenever we take the easy way out, we can be sure we’re listening to the devil. His ways are easy now, but hard later. God’s ways are hard now, but extremely rewarding later on.
Make sure you’re building your life on the Rock.
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