Parables Of Jesus Christ

The parable of the wise and foolish builder.

The parable is the build your house on the rock or also known as the wise and foolish builder. This one instantly made me think in my lovely husband who was a master craftsman, a builder of old times, a stonemason. Again this parable in mathew is part of sermon on the mount.
Matthew 7:24-27
Build Your House on the Rock
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Luke 6:46-49
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
As part of sermon on the mount, jesus taught this to his followers. Jesus is speaking of the neccesity to build your life on the right foundation. As any builder knows rhe foundation is the most important part of the building. It holds everything up, no matter how great a quality of your building materials you use if the foundation isnt right you dont have a stable house. Wall will cracks windows will stick, the roof will leak. Before you know ir, the storms of life will bring it crashing down, and everything you've worked so hard to build will be lost.
Being married to a stonemason for 30 years i certainly can identify with this. I love the way jesus uses items that we can identify with to make sense of your life. Someone said to me yesterday and i totally agree and it had quite an impact to me. Today soceity we need to feel things, we should have our faith firmly planted in great foundations and remember jesus words to us. They are as relevant today as yesterday and will be tomorrow.
There are only two builders in the story; only two alternatives. When it comes to matters of ultimate truth, there are really only two options. You either trusting in Christ, obeying his commands, following his example - or you dont. One way leads to life and salvation, the other leads to death and eternal destruction. The world would have you believe otherwise. The world says you have a myriad of choices; that there are many ways of being a spiritual person. Many ways of being a good person. Taking me back to what was said to me yesterday the world want to "feel something".
According to the Bible, there are only two ways - Christ and everything else. One way leads to life; the other leads to death. Although the man who build his house on sand did do alot right. He must of been hard working for a start, builders work hard nowadays but everything was manual then must of been months or even years of back breaking work. He didn't give up, kept going until he completed his house. But to no avail his hard work was for nothing. Something we can confuse activity with godliness. We assume that if someone is hard-working and energetic, they must be a sincere Christian. They must be close to God if they're doing so much "for the Lord". But that can be a mistake. All of that activity and service may be built upon a foundation of sand. They could be doing all those things for all the wrong reasons. It may not be obvious what those reasons are, just as it may not be obvious what kind of foundation is underneath a house. Eventually the true motivation will become apparent. , the foundational movitation has to be love. What movitation could that be? Pride is one, having to be praised and in the spotlight but crumble like the house if not praised or even worse critised.
self-righteousness? This one can produce some really exemplary workers, But their primary reason for doing all the things they do may be to earn God's favor demonstrating that they deserve God's blessings. They want to prove and definately thing they are better than those around them. It could even be habit or duty or people-pleasing.The foundation and the motivation has to be a love for Christ or to God it has no value. The house built on the sand was a good, solid structure; appeared to be well built.It But it was just waiting for the first real storm, down it came because of that lack of a true foundation. It is possible to achieve in this world without christ. Be a good person but eventually without jesus it all comes tumbling down. Like the foolish builder it can be when the first storm hits or they can even go to their grave happy because they missed storm during their lives. For them, the storm that finally destroys everything, including their souls, will be the final judgement. How did this wise man differ from the foolish man? Did he work harder? Did he use better materials? The difference was in the foundation he chose to build on.Even the most terrible, frightful storm could not destroy that house. those who are in Christ will pass through the "storm" of his final judgement.But this goes for life right now as well. If we belong to Christ; if our lives are built upon faith in Him, obedience to His commands, and fellowship with Him through the Spirit, then there is literally nothing that can separate us from him. The storms of life may rage, we may become frightened and fearful, we may even come close to despair. But no matter what happens, our faith cannot be destroyed, we cannot lose Christ or be lost by Him.
Dont rely on other things to get you through the storms. Be the wise builder. Lay your foundations in jesus christ.