Life On the Rock
There are a lot of things people run to for security, for reassurance, for stability, for a sense of safety… But these things fail time and time again.
Whether they are relationships, a title, a white picket fence, a job, an announcement, a leader… they are temporary and a chasing after the wind. In the moment these things can feel and seem solid. That fickle moment of “finally.” Yet, sooner or later, the earth beneath the feet of these things begins to dissolve and erode.
Have you ever stood at the edge of the ocean? At first your footing seems solid. But then the waves come up around your feet and soon the sand begins to disappear beneath your footing. Soon you begin to sink ever so slowly as the water washes away what you were standing on.
So too is a life that is built on things that do not last. Things that do not withstand the test of time or this world. Any life that chooses to build their hope and trust on these things will soon find the foundation they thought was solid dissolving beneath them.
And sadly, you would think that standing on sinking sand would only happen once. That the lesson would be learned the FIRST time.
But it’s not.
Over and over and over again we watch humanity struggling and searching for something to stand on. Something to build their life and trust on and in. Someone to believe and hope in to “fix” this world. Yet sadly, over and over and over again we watch as that thing, that someone, fails and dissolves.
We ALL do and have done this.
However, as Believers, that moment we chose to step out of the boat with excited Faith, as Peter did, we are choosing to put our eyes on Jesus. (Matthew 14:22-31) But then something begins to occur. Out of the corner of our eye we see a storm brewing, a wave coming and we glance over removing our eyes off of Jesus and begin to question whether or not He CAN or WILL save us from the storm. We begin searching and scouring for the answers, for the reasons to understand why the storm is happening, why the waves are coming… And our focus and attention is no longer on the One standing in front of us, the One that will hold us through the storm, but instead our eyes shift to the effects of the storm.
Jesus says:
“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 (NIV)
Did you catch what Jesus said?
“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.”
If we call ourselves Believers and followers of Christ and choose to focus on the world instead of living by the Word of God, which gives us Life, Hope, Endurance, a FIRM Foundation, a reason to breath… then we will sink into the world’s ever shifting and dissolving foundation.
But here is the awesome thing, you can get off of the sinking foundation beneath your feet and stand on the ROCK. The Rock that your salvation, which is built on Christ, and declare to the waves and storms of this life:
Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from Him.
Truly He is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.Psalm 62:1-2
