“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. – Matt. 7:24-25 NIV
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Starting from Chapter 5 of the biblical book of Matthew, Jesus Christ started his teaching ministry touching on several parts of life. These were all life changing teachings which will no doubt have positive effects on the life of anyone who uses them as path finder in life. It was therefore a case of stating the obvious when Jesus Christ himself attempted to describe what anyone who hears and puts to practice all that he was teaching was like. He compared such a person to one who built a house on a rock. Such will have nothing to fear when the rains, streams and wind come against the house. This contrasts completely with one that built a house on a sand, which is what one who hears the teachings and does not apply them to his/her life will be doing. Such house will definitely come crumbling in the face of rains, streams and storms.
One only wishes that this great advise would have been taken by several Christians today and thus prevent the kind of shambles that their life has become. Many Christians who thought they were already successful with one project or the other found out at the end that basic components of the foundation were missing and so, a little stress on the supposedly completed project exposed the fragile nature of the foundation and so has resulted in a huge loss. Ranging from relationships to vocational activities, there are many cases of such failures which are due to the foundation on which they were built.
Jesus Christ in today’s scripture made it clear that his teachings remain a sure foundation on which any life that hopes to be successful, should be built. He describes the owner of such life as a wise man. To be wise means to be knowledgeable or be capable of making good judgement. Jesus says the first requirement for any one to be able to make a success of his/her life is to be able to make good judgement. Most people make judgements that are very questionable and make anyone wonder how much they love themselves. Whoever wants to make a success of life must plead with God for wisdom. No matter how much opportunities are available to a foolish person, he will soon fritter all away and will be left poor – Prov. 21:20.
The obvious proof that such a person is wise is that he chooses to build his house on the rock as against doing same on sand. To make that choice is to decide to go through the obviously harder route. Every foundation will require some level of excavation, no matter how shallow and probably some levelling. Both actions require lots of efforts when we against carrying out such tasks on a sand. However, the wise person would not mind putting all those efforts into laying the foundation of his/her life knowing fully well that it is a lifetime action. The foolish person will take the easier approach as it is definitely less stressful but will eventually produce regrets in the future.
Jesus Christ implies that the Christian lifestyle may seem tough at the beginning but will be a lifestyle that will produce great joy in the future whilst any other option may seem easy initially but will be full of regrets in the future. Just as he mentioned in some of those teachings, the way to life is narrow but the way to destruction is wide – Matt. 7:14.
Jesus says such a wise person that plans to build on his teachings must not just hear the teachings but must put them to practice. The biblical of James restates this when it advises that Christians should not just be hearers of the Word, but doers also – Jms. 1:22. A wise person who plans to guide his/her life with the teachings of Jesus Christ in order to build such life on solid foundation must start by spending time with the Word. A wise person will avail him/her self regularly with the Word by not only reading but also listening to such messages that will enhance knowledge of the teachings of Christ and wait on the Holy Spirit for perfect interpretation. There is no other way that the Word can make any meaning to such a person outside this path.
In addition to this is the need for such a person to meditate and apply those teachings to everyday activity. That is when the process of being wise will have been completed and a strong foundation will be laid. Be wise by ignoring the initial stress that living along the lines of the teachings of Christ may bring and concentrating on the advantage that will be there in the future. In that decision lies the wisdom required for the building of a strong foundation by a wise man. May God make us wise in the decision making process of our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
