Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)
As I was reading Jesus’ words this morning, a picture came to mind that I’d never thought of before.
Jesus, of course, gives the picture of someone building their house on bedrock.
But the image that came to my mind this morning was of someone not building his house on bedrock, but instead breaking off pieces of that bedrock and trying to make it part of his house’s walls.
And though the bedrock was part of the house’s walls, because the house’s foundation was sand, it ultimately all collapsed.
There are many people like that today. They claim to follow Jesus, but they don’t build their lives on all of Jesus’ teaching. Instead, they “break off” the parts they like, and try to incorporate it into their way of thinking.
We can’t do that. We can’t just take the parts of Jesus’ teaching we like, add it to our own way of thinking, and reject the rest of Jesus’ words. To live that way is not following the Father’s will, but our own.
Our lives need to be built on all he Jesus taught, not just the parts we happen to like.
And of course, the first thing Jesus ever taught was “Repent!”
We cannot enter God’s kingdom if we don’t repent of our sins. (Matthew 4:17)
If we refuse to repent, if instead we cling to our sins, the day will come when we call out to him, “Lord, Lord,” and he says, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers.” (23)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 