By
Allen White
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. But
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. Matthew 7:24-27
A while back, I led “Bible time” with
our kids. Our first lesson came from this passage. I had each of my children
build houses out of Legos. After each child completed their creation, we went
out back to the kiddie pool.
They had a choice. They could either
place their house on a brick in the kiddie pool or on a mound of sand. All
three children chose the bricks. My test house was placed on the sand. Then,
the rains came down and the floods came up via the hose.
To confirm Jesus’ words, the houses on
the bricks stood firm. The house on the sand went splat. It’s a fairly simple
principle, maybe until we apply it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way,
“Sow a thought and you reap an action;
sow an act and you reap a habit;
sow a habit and you reap a character;
sow a character and you reap a
destiny.”
We usually take this quote in the
negative: bad thoughts develop bad actions, which lead to bad habits, bad
character, and a bad everything else. But, this principle can swing to the
positive side just as well.
If I took a poll about which foundation
most churchgoers were building on, the answer would be: solid ground. After
all, they do go to church, right? But, here’s the thing: thinking about
building something and building something are two different things.
What we do daily determines the quality
of our foundation. While we like to think that our life is built on a firm
foundation, the reality is that some of our life is built well, and some of it
is not. Too often there is a fault line between the solid and the shaky ground
that runs right down the middle.
Think about your day so far.
Woke up on time, first cup of coffee,
shower – solid foundation.
Worried about a situation – shaky.
Prayed about the situation and received
God’s peace – solid.
Thought about something a co-worker did
to you and how much you dislike them – shaky.
Yelled at your kids because you’re
upset about your co-worker – shaky ground.
Reading this devotional – solid.
Thinking about deleting this devotional
– shaky.
You get the idea.
This is not a list of rules or worrying
about what you should do. “I should pray, but…” “I should talk nicer to my
kids…” “I should forgive my co-worker…” Don’t get caught up in a shouldy life.
What if you could have peace in your
heart instead of anxiety? What if you could have love in your heart instead of
hate? What if you could feel good about your interactions with your children
rather than regret? This is the difference between building on solid ground and
sandy ground.
What you do daily determines the kind
of life you will have. A better marriage doesn’t come by how you’ve always
handled things. A positive outlook comes by receiving positive input and laying
off the negative.
Connecting with God, choosing His ways
over your ways, heeding Jesus’ words – these build lives on solid ground.
Neglecting time with God, doing things our way, ignoring Jesus’ words – there’s
a whole lot of shakin’ going on.
How can you turn your day around? What
do you need to stop doing right now? What do you need to start doing?
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