Building upon the rock

My family and I have just recently moved into a new house that we built ourselves. Being “owner builders” brought a lot of challenges and also taught us a lot.

The area that we built is in the hills south of Perth where the ground is fairly rocky. The local council told us that we had to remove all the rocks and replace them with a pad of sand which then had to be compacted. We then could start building.

With the recent rains we have had in the Perth area I was able to watch the water collect and run past the house, talking some of the sand we were built up with it. I was left wondering about what Jesus taught about how we should build.

In Matthew 6:24-27 Jesus contrasts two types of people. 1) Those who hear His words and act upon them, and 2) those who hear Christ’s words, but do not act upon them. Jesus compares the first type of people to those who build their houses upon the rock and when the wind comes and the rain falls the house stands strong. The second group are like those who build upon the sand. When the wind blows and the rain falls, their house colapses.

If all we do is hear Christ’s words, everything might look great. We might have the appearance of strength and permanency, but when push comes to shove we are going to fall. We need to do those things that Christ asks us to. James 1:22 says “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Now, I don’t know how my new house will stand, I will have to trust the building surveyors and engineers that worked for us. But I do know that I want to stand firm as a Christian, so I am not only going to listen to Christ’s word, but I am going to do what He says. How about you?