Are You Building to Last?

Mat 7:24 – 27 - Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

    These are the last few verses of Jesus famous discourse to his disciples which we call; The Sermon on the Mount. Only God can calculate the value of these statements and the impact that these words have had, and continue to have, on Earth’s inhabitants. Let’s look closer at how Jesus concludes this ‘sermon’.

    Jesus contrasts two different people; the wise and the foolish. Many times when we read this, we mistakenly assume that Jesus is talking about believers and unbelievers. A closer examination, however tells us that Jesus is speaking of believers. Unbelievers are not sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing his teaching. So this instruction and warning is for all of us as believers. Which type of man will I be? Will I be wise or foolish? I, alone, am in charge of that choice.

   The wise man built his house on the rock, so the question arises, ‘What is the rock?’ Most believers respond to that question by saying that the rock is God. It is true that in the book of Psalms, God is known as the Rock of our salvation; our steady, unchanging, always reliable and permanent security. However, in this verse, God is not the rock upon which the wise man built his house. The rock is his personal application and consistent practice of the words that he heard; it is the bending of his will to the Lord and the forming of his integrity. He did not simply hear but he acted on the word of God, thus constructing his life and character on the security and permanence of eternal foundations.

   Apparently, wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing. Both men heard the words of Jesus, so they both had knowledge, but only one had wisdom. Knowledge alone does not guarantee that we are building securely; in fact, we could be building on shifting sand, all the while quoting Bible verses. In contrast, wisdom is always looking way down the road ahead. Wisdom plans and builds for the future, even peering into the distance and preparing for eternity. The wise man did not take the easy route by digging a foundation in loose soil; no, he took the harder route by digging deep and chipping into the rock, slowly laying his foundation in the bedrock of faithfulness. We can imagine that the foolish man’s house seemed to be making better progress; he had his roof on before the wise man was finished with his foundation. In our fast-paced, get-it-done-now culture, slow and steady progress may be just what we need.

   Both men heard the word of God and built their lives; one by commission and diligence; the other by omission and negligence. From the outside both houses looked the same; it was only in the hidden realm that there was an infinite difference; and it was only when the storm came that the difference was revealed. The storms of life will inevitably come to all of us, at various intervals of our lives, and wise is the one who foresees such storms. Wisdom is not taken by surprise but foolishness always is. A fool builds on the sand, presuming that no storm will come, and even if it does, he seems to think his house will stand.

    I have heard it said that in one Oriental language there is only one symbol that stands for both crisis and opportunity. When the trouble and the tests come it reveals our character and it is our character that predetermines whether it will be a crisis causing our lives to crash or whether it will be an opportunity causing our resolve to be strengthened by God. Dr. Edwin Louis Cole once wrote, “There are no spur-of-the-moment decisions, but every decision is based on a lifetime of previous decisions which either enhanced or diminished one’s character”.

    I pray that we would awaken to a deeper resolve to continue to build on the firm foundation. If we have sinned and made mistakes, as all of us have, then make this an opportunity to repair the faulty foundations and get back on a path of wisdom; building the unseen life one brick at a time. It will definitely be worth it!