the houses

Building on a Solid Foundation

24 "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.25 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 bedrock.26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash."
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

matthew 7

i can't believe i haven't talked about this yet! this is a pretty amazing teaching. the way i'm thinking about about it right now is a lot of people hear Jesus's teachings every sunday or wednesday night at bible study or sermons online, but not a lot of people follow the teaching. i'm guilty of it as well! i'll hear an amazing sermon or revelation about life, love, materialism, greed, justice, etc. and i'll remark on how great it was and yet never let it affect my life! how wrong is that? it's like going to the doctor and having him or her tell you that you have cancer and you need to take steps to eradicate it and you walk out saying, "wow, what a great doctor! who knew exactly what i need to do to save my life! oh well!" and never do anything about your sickness!! how ridiculous is that?? it's the same way with Christians a lot of the time! we'll hear Jesus talking about what we need to do to change our hearts or change the world and we marvel at how wise and edgy He was and never lift a finger to do anything about it! and here is Jesus going after us and letting us know that, straight up, it's not ok!

ok, so here's the breakdown of Jesus's parable in my eyes: everyone hears what Jesus wants us to do, at least Christians do. and we all try to live life. this is represented by the house, i'm thinking. those of us who try to live life by following Jesus and actually doing what He tells us to do are living on a solid foundation. those of us not only listening but doing are building on top of the cornerstone, Jesus Christ, everything is dependent on Him. all of our decisions are rooted in Him. whatever it may be, whether it's where to go to school, what career path to pursue, where to serve in ministry, who to ask to marry us, etc. all choices are rooted in Him. and when life comes with its struggles and hardships, we won't fall because all of our bets were always on Jesus. so if life comes rumbling down the road, we won't be shaken! there's nothing that can move this life, this house, because it's built upon our savior. because we've built a life on the foundations of who Jesus is, love, patience, kindness, humility, no one can tear us down! when we lose our house, God is good because we know houses are temporary, we know material possessions come and go! when we lose our careers, we remember that God provides, that honestly, He's the one the even gives us the strength to work! when people mock and make fun of us, God is still good because we knew when we started this journey that there were going to be a lot of haters, and because we've been built on humility and thinking of others higher than ourselves, rather than feeling bad and discouraged, we pray our hearts out over the people that hate us! when we even lose the people we love, God is good because we know that God is just and we will be worshipping with them when we all get to heaven. =] when we find out that we have a terminal illness, God is good because we know that He still provides, we are still so blessed, and even though He's taking back the life He gave to us, we still have received so much more than we could have ever even asked for, love, redemption, and healing. God is good. for those of us living life without listening to Jesus and actually building on Him, their foundation is very weak, when life comes, it comes hard. it trashes everything. here is where we have Christians who turn away from God because they think He's forsaken them! but they've never built their life on Jesus, they've never learned how good God is in every situation! but God is still loving.

i pray that those of us who have built on a strong foundation will open up our homes, our lives to those whose houses are wrecked. whose lives are wrecked. and those of us who don't have that firm foundation yet, find someone who does. start with Jesus. start right here, in that heart. all we need to do is really mean it when we say, "Jesus, i need you. i mean, i really, really need you. show me how to live, because i don't know how to do it on my own."