MEDITATIONS FROM THE PARABLES OF JESUS
THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK AND ON THE SAND
Read Luke 6:46-49
Upon what have you built your life? Is it built upon Jesus Christ and His Word? Or is it built upon some earthly foundation? Jesus told this parable because of those who addressed Him as "Lord" and listened to His teaching but did not do what He taught. They heard Jesus' words with their ears and called upon Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him (cf. Matt. 15:8). They did not trust in Jesus for salvation or seek to live their lives as He commanded.
The first man in Jesus' parable, the man who dug down deep and laid the foundation of his house upon the rock, is like the one who hears Jesus' Word and then trusts in Him and His redemptive work for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. As a child of God through faith in Christ's shed blood, he then seeks to live his life for his Lord and Savior by hearing and doing His Word. When floods of trouble, suffering, and persecution come his way, he is not moved because his faith and life are built upon Jesus Christ and His eternal Word.
The second man, who built his house upon the earth without a foundation, is like the man who hears Jesus' Word and even calls himself a Christian; but he does not truly trust in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, nor does he truly seek and desire to live in obedience to the Word of God. His life is not built upon Christ, but upon the earth and its vain philosophies. When trouble, suffering, or death come his way, his life crumbles because all that his life was built upon washes away.
Upon what have you built your life? Is it
built upon Christ and His Word? or upon the unstable sands of this world? If
you live your life according to the ways and standards of this world, both you
and your works will not stand in God's judgment. But if you build your life
upon Christ and His Word, you will be "as mount
In faith, Lord, let me serve Thee; tho' persecution, grief, and pain should seek to overwhelm me, let me a steadfast trust retain; and then at my departure take Thou me home to Thee and let me there inherit all Thou hast promised me. In life and death, Lord, keep me until Thy heav'n I gain, where I by Thy great mercy the end of faith attain. Amen. (TLH, Hymn #381, Verse 3)