BUILDING OUR LIVES ON THE ROCK

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.


In Jesus’ illustration of these houses, each house might “look” the same from the outside. Just like our lives might look the same compared to many other Christians around us. But like a house, where the real foundation is hidden, our inner hearts and lives can only be seen by Him. And when those storms of life come, how we stand, will show just how secure our foundations are.  Jesus warns us that the foundations of our lives will be shaken at some time or another, both now (in trials) and in the ultimate judgment before God. It is much better that we test our foundations now than at our judgment before God. Merely hearing God’s Word isn’t enough to provide a secure foundation. It is necessary that we are also doers of His Word. If we are not, we commit the sin that will surely find us out…the sin of doing nothing, and great will be our fall. (Numbers 32:23)

Nothing in this life is permanent or can be counted on not to crumble and fall apart. If we spend our lives seeking the worlds treasures and pleasures, and not after things of God, we will find ourselves empty spiritually when we need it most; or certainly as we stand before God someday. And likewise of course, if we center our lives firmly on Him, He will be there for us when we truly need Him to be....and when we ultimately stand before Him, we can say we put our trust and faith in Jesus, which is the only thing that will save us...

I heard it taught somewhere once, can't remember where now, and I guess it doesn't matter, that if we go through our lives NEVER (or seldom anyway) addressing or feeding our spiritual selves, but instead have our minds firmly centered on this world and what it has to offer and gain, that we can't expect to draw any comfort or strength from something that doesn't exist when we most need it. Kind of like a bank account...there is no savings if you have never made the deposit. But if we go through our lives not neglecting our spiritual needs and feed our spirits on the Word everyday and build a real relationship with the living God, then He is right there when we need Him, and we can draw strength and comfort from a wealth of scripture that He has given us....again, like a bank account....our "savings" is HUGE...

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