On an afternoon a little over two years ago, I was working away in my home office. My son had just left for a doctor’s appointment when I heard a tremendous crash coinciding with our house violently shaking. My first thought was that Robert had crashed his car into our house at a high speed. But then I realized what had probably happened. I rushed outside to have my suspicions confirmed — a huge limb from an old oak tree had fallen on our house and caused considerable damage.
My next-door neighbor came out and told me that her house shook as well. Another neighbor bolted outside and said, “What was that? That was so loud!”
Meanwhile, my daughter, Molly, was in our basement, oblivious to all the commotion above. Molly asked me why she didn’t feel anything. I replied that it was because her feet were on the foundation of the house, which is firm.
Jesus spoke of this very thing in Luke 6:48 when He said, “They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”
Because this man’s foundation was on rock, the house could not be shaken.
The house in Jesus’ statement is a picture of our lives. So what is it that this man did to build his “house” on such a firm foundation? In the preceding verse, Jesus said that this man “comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice,” and thus cannot be shaken. In other words, He will be at peace, even when disaster strikes.
So in order to build our “houses” (our lives) on a firm foundation that can withstand the winds of adversity, we must:
- Come to Jesus.
- Hear His words.
- Live His words.
Jesus’ last point, putting into practice what He says, is critical. In verse 49 He warns, “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Don’t you agree that no architect could come up with a better blueprint to build a great life?
“Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken” (Psalm 62:2).
DISCUSS IT
- Do you have any areas in your life that feel unsettled?
- What is hindering you from:
- Coming to Jesus?
- Hearing His words?
- Living His words?
Jim Lange is the president of Five Feet Twenty and the author of “Calming the Storm Within: How to Find Peace in this Chaotic World” from which this article is an excerpt. He attends Crossroads Community Church in Ottawa Lake, Michigan.
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