Further Instructions from the Mount - Pt 9

[Jesus said] “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24–27 ESV).

 

Spending my childhood and teen years in Galveston, Texas, I experienced several hurricanes. One of those is still ranked as one of the top five most destructive hurricanes to hit the United States. Carla came in with winds topping 150 mph and classified as a Category 4 on the Saffir-simpson scale. My dad felt confident we could ride it out in our home, though there was some doubt as the water began to rise to twelve feet completely covering the entire first floor of our grocery store. After the storm left our area, we ventured out to see the devastation. There were buildings of all sorts that were completely destroyed, others seemed to be little damaged.

 

What makes the difference between one home left standing and another left fractured and falling down. The quality of the building materials? No, these were all well-built homes and businesses. Only the best materials were used. The difference was what they were built upon. Those homes which had their foundation laid solidly in the ground stood firm against the tempest that raged against them. Those homes whose foundations were laid in the sand, fractured, broke and fell as the sand was swept away and the foundation collapsed.

 

Jesus uses this same analogy to bring out his final point in His conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount. It does not matter if you are talking about the foundation of a physical building or the foundation upon which you have built your life, the principle is the same. The material upon which you lay your foundation will determine the strength of the structure that is built upon it. It does not matter the cost and quality of the building materials used, for a house built on sand is only as strong as that sand. It will collapse when put to the test.

 

What are you building your life on? If it is anything less than the solid rock of Jesus, you have no hope of surviving the final storm!