Build Your house on the Rocks

We've all sung the song, ''The Wise Man," using our fists to ''build" the house on the rock and our fingers to let the rains come down. The song ends: "So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ." What exactly does that statement mean? What does it mean to build your life on Christ, and what does the parable of the wise man and the foolish man mean?

You remember the details of the parable: a wise man built his house on a rock, and when the rain came, and the floodwaters rose, and the winds blew and beat on the house, it did not fall because it was founded on the rock. On the other hand, the foolish man built his house on sand. When the rains came, the flood waters rose, and the winds beat on his house, it fell. The picture is clear enough. But what does this parable mean to us?

Jesus made two very important comments before He told the parable. First, He said: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Second, He made an important contrast between "whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them" and "everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them" (Matthew 7:24, 26). Here is the point of the parable! Jesus was contrasting the person who claims to follow Him with the person who actually does follow Him.

If you claim to follow Jesus, do you always tell the truth to others? Do you ever cheat or steal? Are you kind to other people? Do you obey your parents? Do you tell your friends about Jesus? Are you selfish? Do you show a bad attitude?

It is not enough to say you love Jesus, or to say that you follow Him.  You have to do it! Loving Jesus means doing what He tells us to do (1John 5:3). Building your life on the Lord Jesus Christ means to live your life doing what He says to do. May God help each of us to study His Word, and then to pattern our lives after those words. Let us do what Jesus tells us to do in the Bible.

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