Have you ever done the right thing at the wrong time? Several years ago my supervisor at the Cancer Treatment Center asked me to come in early on a Wednesday morning. I got up especially early and rushed over to the hospital, thinking I might be late, only to find out I didn’t need to be there for another 30 minutes. I did a great job of being early, only to find out I had the wrong time.
My story is no big deal compared to what happened to a Missouri couple last year.
Mark and Brenda Voss paid $160,000 for lot #23 in a gated community near Palm Coast, Florida. They paid another $680,000 to build their dream vacation house. When it was completed, it was three stories high, with a total of 5,300 square feet, including five bedrooms and beautiful verandas. The lot is lined with attractive palm trees.
There is just one problem. The house was built on lot #21, not #23. Lot #21 is owned by another couple from North Carolina. The last I heard they were all still trying to find a solution to this mix-up. What a mess!
Even that predicament is no big deal compared to the confusion between two houses that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus concluded His sermon with a very shocking warning about these two houses. First, He explained that only those people who have a genuine, personal relationship with Him will survive the final judgment (Matthew 7:21-23). Then, to illustrate what that relationship is like, Jesus told this story: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 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. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24–27).
Notice that both houses were probably built very well. Both builders saw the need for a house, and both must have been diligent and energetic in building it. When the houses were complete, both of them looked equally good.
The house built on the sand didn’t fall down right away. It continued to look strong and steady as long as the weather was good. You could only tell the difference between the two houses when a bad storm hit. The house built on a rock survived the terrible storm, but the other one didn’t. The different foundations produced very different results when terrible trouble came.
The point Jesus was making is that it doesn’t matter how good-looking our religious “houses” may appear. If a relationship with Jesus isn’t the foundation of our lives, we won’t endure the storm of God’s judgment. Worst of all, when we meet Christ on that day, He will say, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). No amount of good works we have done will have been enough to impress a holy God. (Read the entire passage in Matthew 7:15-27 to see this for yourself.)
I’m sure that many of my readers understand that Jesus, the God-man, paid the full price for their sins when He suffered and died on the Cross. For those who know these things, there remains only one question: What will you do with this Jesus? Is He the foundation of your life? You can ignore Him and continue working on improving your religious “house,” or you can give your life to Him and trust that His gift of forgiveness is all that you need.
When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, we have a life that is built on a Rock. That Rock is often called the Rock of Ages. It will never disappoint us because “… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). When we know Him, with joy and confidence we can proclaim, “He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 62:6).
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