Two Builders

“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you? For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock.
But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great”.
Luke 6:46-49 (Amplified Bible)

These words are instructive for the believer.  We are to come, listen and do.  Come to Jesus, listen to what He says and put His words into practice in our life.

The parable of the two builders would have struck a strong cord with Jesus’ audience.  They knew how important it was to build a house on a secure foundation.  In Palestine people would dig deep to find the natural bedrock and then build.  When the weather was good some might construct a house on the firm, dry clay but, when the rains came, all the clay would be washed away and the building swept along with it.  Even in the heat of the summer they should dig down until they find the rock.

Jesus is using well-known imagery to get His point across.  For His followers His teachings are not just optional, but they are commandments.  They are to be obeyed.  At the time the Law of Moses was regarded as the rock on which to build one’s spiritual house.  The prophet Isaiah had prophesied of a new foundation in which we could all trust unreservedly.  “Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious Cornerstone of sure foundation; he who believes (trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that Stone) will not be ashamed or give way or hasten away” (Isaiah 28:16). Jesus is the Rock.

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

Prayer
Lord, help me to build my spiritual house on You. You alone are the solid rock, the sure foundation of my faith.
Amen

Study by James Henderson