“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

Every house needs a foundation. What does your foundation look like?

I was doing some daily Bible reading and came across this passage. I love when Jesus gives powerful illustrations in his teaching, he does it quite often. The picture that he gives in the passage above is of two men who are building their houses. There is something different about this exchange, Jesus starts out with the positive example and ends the negative. There was a man who set out to build his house he wanted it to be on firm ground. I was thinking of course he would build on a strong foundation, it seems pretty obvious doesn’t it? The solid ground would be the logical choice because it would hold their house in the “rare” chance there would be a storm. But, the obvious choice is not always the one people make. The second man decided to build his house on sand. I am picturing California, beach front property with a beautiful view. The foundation on the house isn’t great but sometimes you have to sacrifice safety to get beauty.

We know how the story goes from here because we have all experienced it. The rain falls and falls and falls, so much so that the foundation on every house is tested. The rain is the difficult times, pain from loss, relationship that ends, the job that was once secure and now gone, fill in the blank with the rain you have experienced. It just so happens that when it rains it pours. One thing goes wrong and it begins a snowball effect. The rains fell and tested the foundation of the two houses. The difference between the two houses was the foundation. One house stood the flood because it was built on the rock…the other house went down because it was built on sand.

Jesus is the rock of salvation and there is no other. Again and again he has proven himself to be faithful in the lives of millions of his followers. If you don’t believe me, just ask any one of them and they will witness to the truth of how Jesus has worked in their lives. But as we have already seen, the obvious option is not always the one people go with. Some choose to reject the wonderful gift and decide to go at life all alone. This is a path no one is meant to go on alone, it is a difficult path that only ends with disappointment and pain.

I may not be good with tools or construction but I will give you some advice. Build your house on THE rock. When the rain falls, take shelter in the strong arms of the Lord, because he is mighty to save. This life can be devastatingly difficult, don’t be shaken and moved in any and every storm, be strong knowing that God is with you in the midst of the storm.

So what does your foundation look like? Have you built your life on a strong foundation or have you sacrificed it for beauty? When the rains fall where do you turn?

May God be with you today, whether you are in a storm or on dry land!

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