One of the great things about ultimate reality is that living your life in accordance to it will yield exceedingly positive results, even if it results in short term difficulty, and even if that difficulty is severe. The people of eternal God should surely know that. One should never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate. Yet unfortunately, that is exactly what many do. They choose to build their lives on what is not ultimately true, even when they’ve been exposed to what is ultimately true. That’s not merely unfortunate. It is the very definition of foolishness.
Jesus has just given us a positive analogy of what it means to put into practice the ultimate reality of what He has just said, “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.” Now He provides the counterpoint. The other side of the equation is that a foolish response to reality is also possible, “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.”
Both houses are built, and remarkably, nothing is said of the construction of and by itself. The assumption is that the construction of both is adequate. One expects that both houses look perfectly fine for a period of time. The problem is that the one house is set on a substrate that can easily be washed away. Like a beautiful home built over a sinkhole, it stands until the ground beneath it fails. Like a home by the sea that sits on the sand, it is lifted by the flood and demolished. Destruction comes not at a point during construction, but at a point in the future – after the house is finished, and after the owner makes it a home. This is the crux of Jesus’ point; Fault inevitably shows up. An incorrect worldview will not persist, because the supporting substructure is unstable. Lies always get found out. Misunderstandings eventually get set right. Truth always wins in the end, no matter how many lies are spoken against it, or how long those lies are repeated. As sure as the weather erodes that which can be eroded, reality eventually exposes untruth.
Sadly, the world is full of such foolishness. Broken worldview abound. Most people are building their hopes and dreams on what is effectively sand. Sadly, many have heard the words of God, but they do not put them into practice. The result is that initially, their lives may look as beautiful and secure as those who did put Jesus’ words into practice. Perhaps even better. But like a house whose foundation is suddenly washed away, their lives eventually collapse into utter ruin. We can read about such people almost every day. Famous preachers and people of faith who are found out to be far less than what they presented to the world. But it isn’t only the famous who are found out. Countless are the nameless individuals who’ve disregarded Christ’s exhortations and lived to regret it.
It is the nature of life that storms come. It is the nature of storms to blow down and wash away that which can be blown down and washed away. The storm cannot stop to think of the damage it does anymore than the truth can stop being true. This is fact. Either we have well prepared for that day, or we have not. Either we are prepared for the storms of life and the eventual judgment of God, or we have not.
Too often our trust in the Lord is based on our own understanding, or only engages part of our heart. When the storms of life come, faulty foundations are destroyed.
Steven E. Runge
APPLICATION: Intentionality
It is not that the foolish builder did not know what to do. It is that they made a conscious choice to ignore good instruction. What good instruction are you tempted to ignore?