At the end of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a parable about wise and foolish builders. It’s one of my favorite passages in the Bible.
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 that 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.
Jesus tells us that we pretty much have two options: we can build our lives on him or on anything else. If we build our lives on Jesus then we will have a solid foundation and weather the storms of this life. If we build our lives on anything but Jesus then we will have a shifting foundation and crumble under those same storms.
Jesus doesn’t give us a third option, but we sometimes like to think there is one.
We want the option of a beach house when we want it, but the option to come back to the house with the more solid foundation.
The beach house seems like it’s more fun.
The beach house seems like it has a little more freedom.
The beach house seems like it would be more popular.
We know that we shouldn’t stay at the beach house, though, and so we want the option to leave. We want the option to head back the house with the solid foundation and get our lives back together. As attractive as the beach house seems, we know that it has a shaky foundation and sometimes we just need to stand on solid ground.
But there’s always the temptation to have two houses, to try to build our lives on Jesus and the things of this world. But that isn’t an option; Jesus doesn’t want us living with him part time.
What helps you build you life on Jesus?
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