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
Some years ago, during an extended drought in the Midwest, my home experienced significant “settling.” We noticed small cracks crawling up the walls, doors not closing tightly and water seeping into our basement through our foundation seams. In fact, one strong rainstorm created a nice little river valley from our basement into our garage.
As it turned out, our back patio had sunk eight inches and was directing water right into our foundation. To address the problem, we hired contractors who pumped enough mud under our patio to raise it 8″ in order to direct the water away from the house and down the slope of our yard. Problem fixed!
Life is much the same and if we’re not careful, we miss the clues that point to the weak points in our own foundation. Just as the cracks in our walls, the misaligned doors and the river in our basement were indicators that something was wrong with our home’s foundation, so too, things like negative attitudes, prayerlessness, and cynicism are indicators that our spiritual foundation is shifting.
A wise person once said, “A Bible that is falling apart belongs to someone who is not.” Become firmly grounded in the Word of God and when the storms of life come, your faith will remain intact.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Take some time to do a self faith-evaluation. How’s your foundation?
2. Inspect the areas of your life that may show signs of weakness and allow Christ to make the necessary adjustments.
FURTHER READING:
Psalm 1