Built on the Rock
What is your life built on?
The trees stretched toward the sky like open palms ready to receive. The soft morning sun shone down. It was a cool morning. I listened for sounds - the birds waking in song, the neighbor’s chickens stirring in their coop, the trash truck rumbling up the sloped road. I could hear the rhythmic hammering of a builder in the distance. Building a house, maybe. Building a life, perhaps.
What is your life built on? Is it built on titles - job title, marital status, motherhood status, education level? Is it built on possessions - your home, car, clothes, bank account? Is it built on your feelings - desires, worries, self-talk? Is it built on other people - their acceptance, rejection, affirmation, applause, opinions?
Is your life built on the changing, shifting things of this world, or is it built on the God who never changes? Jesus, the eternal redeemer (I Peter 1:18-21). Jesus, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, & forever (Hebrews 13:8). Peter, whose name means rock or stone, reminds us that Jesus is the chief cornerstone, the stone upon which other stones are built. Believers are those other stones, chosen by God & precious to Him who is building us into a spiritual house (I Peter 2:4-10)
Jesus the foundation stone, the Son of God in heaven & son of a carpenter on earth, invites us to examine our foundation through a parable in Matthew 7:24-27. A wise man, Jesus teaches, builds his life on the rock of His Word. When storms come, the wise man remains because he has a firm foundation that isn’t compromised by external conditions. However, a foolish man builds his life on the unstable things of this world & watches his life crumble when the inevitable trials come his way.
If we are to be built into the spiritual house that Peter describes, we must first be founded on the Rock - Jesus Himself. How? By hearing God’s Word & living it out. Jesus is the Word - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 14).
My invitation to you today is to pursue Jesus wholeheartedly by finding your identity solely in Him as you seek to live out His loving commandments. How many of us have found ourselves grasping at stability, peace, & satisfaction from the shallow well of this world? Both my hands are raised! Jesus is the only well that ever truly satisfies. His Word is a feast for the soul, a deeply needed drink in the desert. When you build your life on the things of this world, you quickly find yourself crumbling the moment something goes wrong. Losing a title or not winning that award or never receiving the applause of others or facing a setback becomes devastating because it is in those things that you seek sustenance.
Jesus teaches us a different way.
When the job is lost, I stand on the Rock.
When the spouse hasn’t arrived, I stand on the Rock.
When they reject me, I stand on the Rock.
When life doesn’t look the way I had hoped, I stand on the Rock.
When my timeline doesn’t look like hers, I stand on the Rock.
I stand on the Rock & find hope, peace, stability, & joy. My life is no longer ruled by my changing circumstances. I become rooted, built up, & steadfast in who Jesus is & in who I am in Him.
Can I encourage you with this? Sometimes God takes us to rock bottom so that we can find out if we’re founded on the Rock or not. In His mercy, He allows us to go to that dark place in order to lead us into His secret place. God would rather us lose our lives than to lose our souls. It is better to lose what you thought you wanted or needed, what you thought you loved or lived for, than to lose eternal life with the One who loves you most. The limits of ourselves leads us to the beginning of God. Build your life on the Rock & watch God work in your life like never before.
Matthew 7:24-25
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.