Luke 6: 47-49 “As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 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. 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.”

This passage is one of the most well-known passages in all of the New Testament. When Jesus said these words He created two images for his listeners (and us) to visualize. If we listen to Jesus’ instructions and put them into practice we are like a wise man building his house on the solid rock. But if we just hear them and do nothing with them…we’re like a foolish man with a foundation of shifting sand.

As hurricane season approaches I was reminded of this passage again this week. When I think about this passage I think back to the three biggest storms that I’ve experienced: Hurricane Fran, Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence. Trees were uprooted, flood waters rose, debris was everywhere, and homes with a weaker foundation collapsed.

Although we know that Jesus wasn’t referring to literal homes in this passage, these memories give us a visual of what it looks like for a house to be destroyed in the storm.  In this case our “house” refers to our life, more specifically, our spiritual life. God calls us to build a firm foundation that is set upon the rock.  Building this foundation involves taking Jesus’ words and putting them into practice.  Reading your Bible and putting those teachings into practice requires time, energy, and dedication. I know at times it feels like these are commodities that are in short supply…we never have enough time and energy to get everything done that we would like.  We frequently get distracted from building a strong spiritual foundation by “more pressing” physical matters.

But this month I would like to urge you to take Jesus’ words in this passage very seriously. What is the quality of your spiritual foundation? How are you working on your faith on a weekly and daily basis? Are you giving him your “first” time and your “best” energy?  When we give our “first” and our “best” to God, we notice a difference in our focus and attitude, and oftentimes we can use what we learned to help others.  

As Christians we know that this world is challenging. It drains us of our strength and our joy. And week after week I’m reminded that if I’m building by myself or for myself, I’m building on sandy ground. We need help from other believers and they need help from you. I want to encourage you to be in worship with your Church Family on Sunday mornings.  I hope you will come to church with a desire to worship God and a desire to lift up the believers around you.  This helps us all draw strength from The Solid Rock of Jesus.

The time to strengthen your spiritual foundation isn’t after “the storm” has arrived. We need to stand together. We need to worship together. We need to build our lives on a solid foundation of worship now so that when the waters rise, we’ll find ourselves on solid ground by the love and grace of Jesus.

In Christ,
Pastor Thomas