We Listen, But Do We Really Hear?
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27
Any builder knows that a house must have a firm foundation, usually concrete buried into footings into the ground with rebar to strengthen it so that it will stand for many years. I can remember when I was a child, my grandmother’s house was built on stacks of blocks and bricks. You could bend down and look under the house all the way across it. However, it did stand until it was demolished years later. You can imagine how cold it got inside the house without any outside foundation walls or insulation. That was a common way to build back in the 1930’2 and 1940’s.
Not only houses and other buildings must have a good foundation, so does the human soul. Jesus gave a comparison of the wise man and the foolish man. The one who really listens to the words of Jesus and does what He says to do and abstains from doing what He says not to do is the one whom Jesus calls a wise man who builds his house, that is, his life, upon a rock, that is, upon Christ, the firmest foundation, the cornerstone. Then when the heavy rain of adversity falls, the floods of pain and sorrow encompass, and the winds of strife and suffering blow unmercifully, the one who has placed his or her all in all in the solid rock of the Lord of the universe will not fall, will not succumb, will not suffer defeat.
In Matthew 12:46-50, Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees while His mother and brothers waited outside for an opportunity to speak with Him. Someone interrupted Jesus to let Him know they were waiting. I am sure He already knew they were outside. Jesus then asked the man, “Who is My mother? and who are My brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and Mother”. Those who Know Christ through faith and belief and who obey the will of the Father as set forth by the words of Jesus, He considers them on the same level as His own mother and brothers. We humans don’t usually do that. I admire the mothers of other folks, but I don’t consider them as dear to me as my own mother, but Jesus does.
But what about the one who listens, perhaps only half-way listens, but doesn’t really hear what Jesus is saying to all of us. Jesus said that they would be like the foolish man who builds his house, that is, his life, upon the sand, representative of anything but Christ. A life built following the blueprint of the world’s standard of fleshly desires will have a very weak and unstable foundation, the framing will be warped and flimsy, and the roof will not be securely attached. When the storms of life, financial woes, rebellious children, illness, or death of a loved one occurs, the foolish man’s house will fall; his life will come apart at the seams for he does not have Christ as his firm foundation to hold it all together. Going back to the example of a homebuilder, he can attempt to teach the novice builder about foundations, who says, “OK, OK, I know that”, but then the less experienced builder doesn’t follow through. Guess what happens to the house that he built. And then guess who gets sued. How much better to hear and put into practice what one hears. It saves a lot of agony down the road.
God tests His people continuously, not to show Him how we are building on our foundation because He already knows, but to help us to build according to His plan for our lives. God will never give us a test that we cannot pass, but we may have to retake the test over and over until we do pass it. We must take each test as it comes. There is no skipping over the parts that we don’t like. There are no short cuts to Christian maturity. For the one whose life was built on a sub-standard foundation, one that is not Christ, in the end his life will fail miserably. He may have had some good times, but when the end of life comes, without Christ, it has all been for nothing. As the old saying goes, “A man may spend his entire life climbing the ladder of success then find out his ladder is leaning against the wrong building!” All that he worked for has been for nought.
For those whose hope is in Christ, He promises us that “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed” (John 8:31). To continue in His word is to do what He says, then “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). It doesn’t get any better than that!