The Wise Man and the Foolish Man

"Therefore whosoever heareth these saying of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Words of Jesus, Matthew 7:24-27

In conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is now giving His listeners a choice. They can choose to build on one of two foundations: the rock, which is stability and a sure foundation, or they can build on sand which is Pharisaic righteousness.

When I read these verses this morning, I couldn't help singing them.  We all grew up singing about the Wise man and the Foolish man in our Sunday school classes.  I almost did the hand motions as I sang it this morning as well!  But what spoke to my heart this morning about these verses is the difference between just 'hearing' the Word of God, and 'heeding' the Word of God by actually doing what Jesus told us to do.  Isn't it funny how we can continually hear the Word of God, but seldom make an effort to put it into practice? By doing that, we are robbing ourselves of the Blessings of God.

The Wise Man built his house on a rock.  In Scripture, we know that Jesus is The Rock.  When we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a sure foundation!  Upon His principle's, His Word and even on Him Himself, our foundation is sure, secure and stable!  It won't matter how hard the rain falls, it won't matter how deep the water becomes, it won't matter how tornadic the winds of trouble blow our way, Jesus is our sure foundation and we are unshaken!

But on the flip side, Jesus shows us what will happen to the man who builds his house upon the sand. This man is a Foolish Man.  He was shown the Truth but continued to do things his own way. I can picture the 'sand' as being worldly philosophies, false doctrine, the traditions of man.  These are not a sure foundation. When the rain, floods, and wind come and beat upon the foolishness of this man and all the vain things he has chosen to stand on, all will be lost!  What a sad end for the Foolish Man, especially when He had the Great Architect give him the Perfect Blueprint for a sure foundation.

Isn't that just like the world?  There are always those who want to take a shortcut in building their house.  They choose cheaper materials and construction workers who do not even hold a degree to help them build their houses.

It will lead to disaster when the first storm hits, and it will fall.

But the Wise are given this promise: "It fell not!"

Unshaken, no matter what!

Jesus tells us where to build, and Psalms 127:1a tells us Who should build, "Unless the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:"

Friend- are you liken unto the wise man...

    or are you liken unto the foolish man...?

        The choice is yours to make...

            But that's just me!