Building on Rock

“Anyone who hears My words and puts them into practice is like the wise man who builds his house on rock.” 

Matthew 7:24

Many buildings have collapsed in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. That is because developers have to build on swampy ground. They need to spend more money, time, and expertise on the foundation of the building. Sometimes more than half of the cost of the building is spent on the foundation and still the building falls. 

Many people like to “experiment” with their lives. We already have a manual given by our Creator, our “manufacturer”. If we follow His instructions, we are guaranteed fullness of life. We do not need to be an expert to know that car maintenance is important if we want to improve its performance. We need to bring it to a qualified center for scheduled service check ups specified in the manual. What makes us think we “know” how to live our lives without going back to our manual, the Bible? 

Sometimes when we look around, all we see is shaky ground. That was the challenge that faced the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He was asked to build the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on land that was a slush of soft mud. Tokyo is a city that averages 2000 earthquakes a year. It is so seismically active that in 2011, Tokyo experienced more than 10,000 earthquakes! What did Wright do? First, he made sure to float a solid foundation on the 60 foot layer of soft mud underneath the hotel. The building withstood the worst earthquake in 52 years while many buildings around it fell. 

Even if all around us is confusion, fake news, relative truths, we need to build our life on rock, the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.