Your Foundation: Rock or Sand!

The text tonight is from Matthew 7:24-27 and verses 24 & 25 say (Jesus speaking) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock." Of course, most of you can recognize the analogy here being the "building of our faith in Christ."

There are some very strong Christians who literally live in a "hell" on earth. At the very end of an extreme trial in their lives, along comes another; more wind, rain and floods. But even though it looks bleak, they look up, and release their will to the Father with a strength impossible to maintain in human form. My own children and family have experienced this seemingly "unending" cloud in their lives. My middle child mentioned that bothersome "hanging cloud" in her families life just the other day.

Then in verses 26 & 27 He says "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall." And naturally, we all know people like this. "Everything is wrong with everything. Nothing is ever going to go right. My life is a mess and always will be." We have trouble ministering to these people because they have no hope. We realize that apart from the 70 plus years we have here on earth, HOPE is all that we have. And our HOPE is in Christ Jesus. We try to help physically and spiritually, but they always seem to have a negative response.

Christ has given us the answer right up front. He has told us to "tie our ship to His dock" and even though we will experience the rain, floods and winds of life, we do not experience them alone. Again, our HOPE is in Christ Jesus, not anything that this world can provide for us.

Finally in verses 28 & 29, the people marveled at His teaching, "as one having authority, and not as their scribes." Kind of like the story of the Three Little Pigs we were told as children only this story has the strength and love of a Creator behind it.

When life looks like something you just cannot "do" anymore, you can take comfort in knowing that, even though you don't feel it, someone is leaning against you, encouraging you to stand tall. Give your Whole Heart and Life to Jesus and let Him shelter you from these storms.

Dave