Lesson Eight: Built On The Rock!
Devotion #1: Firm Foundation
Gary Wright
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27
This passage of Scripture reminds me of the nursery story “The Three Little Pigs.” All three little pigs had the same opportunity to build a house; however, they took different approaches. The first little pig took the cheap route and built his house out of straw. The second little pig took the economic route and built his house out of sticks. However, the third little pig did everything he could to build a very structurally sound house. He built his house out of brick.
Jesus is wrapping up the Sermon on the Mount by calling us to respond to what He has been teaching. Just like the three little pigs all had a choice on how to build their houses, Jesus is giving us a choice on what kind of foundation we are building our lives on. Is it going to be the solid rock foundation of Jesus and obedience to His Word, or will it be on ourselves? Faith in Jesus is the only thing that gets us to Heaven, but our obedience to Jesus’ Word proves that we truly know Him as Savior (John 14:15). Jesus goes on to say that those of us who build our lives on the solid foundation of Him and obedience to His word are wise. Those of us who build our lives on anything else are foolish.
At the end of “The Three Little Pigs” story, the big, bad wolf huffed and puffed to blow down the houses. You guessed it, only the third little pig’s house stood firm. The wolf was the final judgment on the quality of houses that the little pigs had built. The storms that Jesus is talking about in our passage are referring to God’s final judgment. Will we stand firm at the final judgment or will we fall with a great fall?
This is going to sound funny, but which little pig are you? Do you have a firm foundation? Do you know Jesus as Savior?
In 2 Corinthians 13:5, we read, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” One way that we can examine ourselves to see if we know Jesus as Savior is by whether or not we are obedient to His Word. Jesus is not asking us to be perfect; He is, however, telling us when we truly have faith in Him, we will do our best to be obedient to His Word and allow it to transform our lives.
James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”