Wise or foolish?

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24, ESV)

In life, we must ask ourselves some questions. Are we wise or foolish? On what have we founded our lives? Jesus stated that these two questions are vitally connected.

““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.”” (Matthew 7:24–27, ESV)

A wise man will build his life upon the Word of God.

When I was a young man, my grandmother built a house in Hightstown New Jersey. It was an interesting construction since the soil there, was a mixture of clay. Many of the houses built in the area literally sank into the mire over time since the soil was insufficient to support a standard foundation. At that time, builders actually built the homes higher out of the ground to allow for future settling. However, the problem was not the houses in the area; it was the foundation for those houses.

Foundations are important. Jesus uses the metaphor of a house’s foundation to teach the citizens of the kingdom something about the foundation for our lives. The foundation for the life of a wise person is the Word of God. Conversely, we should consider a person building his life on any other foundation as foolish.

People build their lives upon many other foundations. Some people build their lives upon money. Others build their lives upon careers and power. Some build their lives upon participation in organizations. Many build their lives upon earthly relationships, including family. Some build their lives upon having fun and excitement. Still others build their lives upon vitality and health. Most build their lives on a combination of these and other things. The problem is that if these things are the foundation for life, one will find instability to his life. The reason is that all of these things are temporal. All these things are but fleeting. It is foolish for one to build his or her life on something with so much instability. When the storms of life come, and they will, people who build their lives on these things will crash along with them.

At stake here, is an issue of the heart, the priorities of life. The wise person builds the foundation of his or her life upon the Living Word of God. For everything else can come crashing down, but God’s Word will never fail. The reason is that God is eternal and He will never fail and likewise, His Word is eternal. It will never fail. Jesus stated this clearly.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Mark 13:31, ESV)

The thing that really puzzles me is why so many of us know this truth, understand it, and yet do not live by it. I guess we may not understand that our foundation is wrong until the storm of life comes and we find our house falling down. It is not until then that we decide to reestablish our priorities of life. The mark of a true citizen of the Kingdom is His foundation. Yet, even the true citizens of the Kingdom will at times get their priorities wrong. The difference is that when the true Christians with misplaced priorities gets in the storm, they will reestablish them on the Rock.

However, is it not sad that so many Christians will not reassess their lives when life is calm? Getting our priorities straight should not be something we do only when a storm arises. It is something we should endeavor to do every day.