Today’s Word: Recently, I had the task of constructing a bus stop for my children at the end of our long driveway. Since I am not a skilled builder, I found myself stretching the limits of my construction abilities. Yet, after countless hour of hard work I stood their admiring my creation. I even led my wife out in her pajamas to see what I had constructed. However, after a few days, a storm came down from the North. The wind grew stronger and more constant maintaining straight line winds around 50 mph. The winds blew and blew, pounding everything for hours. Needless to say, on my way home form work that day, my heart sank when I came across my construction project upside down in the ditch. I had spent so much time making the building functional and cosmetically beautiful that I failed to do the most important thing: setting the foundation.
In the Gospel’s, Jesus proclaims, “…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.” (Mat. 7:26-27) That day my house fell with a great crash. So what is Jesus trying to reveal in this teaching? This teaching shows us that it doesn’t matter how much time, how many intricate details, and how elegant our furnishings are in our home; the only thing that matters is our foundation. Give me a cardboard box on a solid foundation, rather than a mansion on a beach. In reality, Jesus is sharing that it doesn’t matter how long we have been a Christian or how much we have grown in grace and holiness. The only thing that matters is that we are putting into practice the “Christ” that has been revealed to each of us right now today! Our foundation therefore, is our obedience in Christ.
The Word for the day is that we each need to take a step back and look at our houses. Some of us have had plenty of time to adorn our spiritual houses with lavish furnishings. Yet let us look to our foundations! Are we continually seeking after the will of God? I tell you the truth, many of us are living in mobile homes. We started off our faith on the Rock, yet overtime, we have chosen to slowly moved our home towards the beach. Therefore, let us take time today to make sure we have ears to hear and eyes to see the Will of God. Let us seek him out today, as He speaks to us through His still and quite voice. Today my bus stop looks slightly less aesthetic. Yet it will not be moved, for it is now secured to a solid foundation.