The Wrong Foundation

Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
–Matthew 7:26

The second builder Jesus talked about in Matthew 7 built his house with a very different result. Jesus began, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them” (v. 26). The person Jesus was describing here is not an agnostic or an atheist who rejects Scripture. This is somebody who listens to the Word of God–he just does not act upon those words. Jesus said he is “like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

This second builder constructed a house perhaps in the same neighborhood as the first man. It may have appeared exactly like that first house, but there was a difference between the two homes that nobody could see: the foundation. Instead of building his house upon a rock, the second builder chose to build it upon sand. But sand is shifting and transitory, and it certainly cannot bear the weight of an entire house. Jesus said that can be compared to a person who builds his life on anything other than Jesus Christ.

There are many Christians today who are at church whenever the doors are open. They nod in agreement when the preacher preaches. They say all the right things. They appear just like every other Christian, but in the dark recesses of their hearts, where nobody else can see, they are building their lives around something other than Jesus Christ–it may be the accumulation of money, it may be success in their job, it may be their family or friendships.

Now, those are not sinful things. But they are transitory. They are shifting. They can be easily taken away. And when that happens, if you have built your life on those things, then your life is going to collapse. That is what Jesus was saying here. When you build your life on anything other than obedience to the unchanging Word of God, you are setting yourself up for a fall.

Notice what happened to this man’s house. He, too, went through storms. Verse 27 says, “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell–and great was its fall.” When people watched the storm beat against this house, they were absolutely surprised when they saw what happened to it. What had been a massive structure collapsed into rubble in just an instant. It had been built on the wrong foundation. The same is true of anybody who builds his life on anything other than a commitment to Jesus Christ.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “How Firm Is Your Foundation?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org