Whether we realize it or not, we are all in the continual process of building our house, which represents our lives, on some type of belief, standard, or principle. The principles of Truth or error we hear and believe will influence our day-to-day choices. Then our decision making will affect the course of action on which we choose to build our lives.
Jesus urges us to listen and build our lives upon His words and teachings. If we listen and desire to act upon the direction of His Word, we will be like a sensible man who builds his house upon the rock. When the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow and attack God’s truth in our heart, soul, and mind, we will not fall, because our lives are grounded on the Lord Jesus Christ. The storms of life will come upon us, but they will not defeat us, as we stand on the stability and strength of the Rock!
Jesus, the Rock, is not advising us to build an outward, legalistic, religious life of struggling in the flesh to keep rules for His acceptance and create our own righteousness. Christ is first calling us to Himself to receive the gift of love, forgiveness, salvation, and His Spirit. The Holy Spirit unites with our spirit to give us the desire to please Lord Yahweh, and the power to partake of His grace, while overcoming the world, flesh, and devil. We become the recipients of an inward, spiritual life that transforms us into peaceful, passionate oneness with our Lord – our desire is to hear and obey the words of the loving Savior. Building our lives on the Rock is a lifelong and ongoing process that will enable us to overcome and make sensible, prudent, practical wise choices and decisions through His power and ability. Jesus, our Rock and foundation will guide us in the right direction and will influence us in a positive way. This doesn’t mean that we won’t sometimes be misunderstood, make mistakes or have problems, but these hardships will not destroy us. Ultimately, as we keep turning back to Jesus to help us through the challenges- Truth will be used to work good things and bring spiritual growth into our hearts and lives.
On the other hand, Jesus tells us that if we hear His Word but we do not desire to apply it to our lives or long to follow His instructions, we will be like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand. When trouble comes and the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat against this house not founded on God’s sufficiency, love, and power, it will fall, and great and complete will be the fall of it. When trouble comes to a person who has built his life on no true spiritual principles, but has chosen to live life their way, full of deceptive pride, and believing they do not need Jesus help, the outcome will be personal confusion, foolish choices, self-pity, lying, blaming, and anguish.
Jesus urges everyone to humble themselves, listen, receive, believe, and accept the Truth of His Way and Word. It is His desire to save all of us all from the negative consequences of building our lives upon the instability of sand. Two lives-one built on the Rock and the other built on the sand- the ending will be quite different- One creates lasting peace and the other creates lasting chaos.
“Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation. When the rains fell and the flood came, with fierce winds beating upon his house, it stood firm because of its strong foundation. But everyone who hears my teaching and does not apply it to his life can be compared to a foolish man who built his house on sand. When it rained and rained and the flood came, with wind and waves beating upon his house, it collapsed and was swept away” (Matthew 7:24-27 tPt.)
