Building A Life That Won’t Collapse

Building A Life That Won’t Collapse

Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because it is built on rock. –Matthew 7:24-25

When I was growing up, I sang the classic Sunday school song, “The Wise Man Built His House upon the Rock.” And as we learned from the song, when the rains came down and the floods came up, the house on the rock stood firm, while the house on the sand went splat.

So really, what was the difference between the wise man and the foolish man? When we read the parable Jesus told, we see that they had many things in common. Both of them heard God’s Word. In modern terms, it is as if they were both churchgoers who sat through the sermon Sunday after Sunday. Both of them experienced the storm. The torrential rain and rising floodwaters came upon both. But the story tells us that the wise person’s house did not collapse because it was built on a rock, while the foolish person’s house fell with a mighty crash because it was built on sand.

What does it mean to build your house on the solid rock versus unstable sand? The difference is in the way the builders responded as they heard God’s Word. One translation says that the wise person not only hears God’s words but that he “puts them into practice” (Matthew 7:24, NIV). The foolish man heard God’s Word, but he ignored it. It is as if he thought being in church was good enough, and he didn’t allow the truth of God’s Word to change and shape him, to strengthen and prepare him.

Do you wonder how you can withstand the storms that are coming into your life? The secret is choosing now to live out all that God has taught you. Begin to put God’s Word into practice through obedience. Then you’ll be ready when the storm comes, and you will not be destroyed by it.

Teacher, there is so much truth I have heard but have not yet begun to live. Show me how to put your Word into practice in my life so that through the power of your Word I might be ready to withstand the storms that come.

DIGGING DEEPER