When I was about 11 years old, I began hearing my parents talking about building a bigger house. Soon, they had plan books and in-depth talks around the kitchen table. It took a period of many months, but the decision was finally arrived at. My father wanted the new house to be in the same spot as the old one so that it would benefit from the shade of the two enormous maple trees on the front lawn, so our old house got jacked up and moved temporarily across the driveway to make way for the new house to be built (the old one was later sold and hauled away). Before long, there was a lot of equipment in our yard, lots of noise, lots of material stacked everywhere. It was fun to watch! There was one problem. Before the building could be started, the new basement had to be dug. And footers put in (a long way down, too, because of the frost level, which was 3 ½ feet). And then forms for pouring the basement walls. All this took forever! So much time was spent on stuff never seen again! It seemed like such a waste (not that I was impatient).
Now, all these years later, it reminds me of the story Jesus told about the wise man and the foolish man building their houses. We sang a song about it in Sunday School, with actions, and in case you were deprived of it in your youth, I’ve included a link here for your enjoyment: https://youtu.be/Eu5bBDRpzPM?si=72C2319FsK2sNHJJ
The song talks about the wisdom of building your ‘house’ on rock and not on ‘sand.’ Of course, the ‘Rock’ is Jesus and the ‘sand’ represents a whole raft of life priorities that ignore him! The ‘house’ is our life. So many parallels to the construction of my parents’ house! I was eager to see it finished, to be able to live in it, to enjoy the larger space. Waiting for all that other in-the-ground stuff seemed so dull, so unrewarding, so time-consuming. It seems building our lives on Jesus might be like that, too. Taking all the time needed to establish a solid foundation is critical: knowing the Word, learning how to pray, engaging in regular Christian fellowship, choosing to un-prioritize the world’s tantalizing priorities, all of which ‘build’ spiritual muscle to withstand the onslaught of temptations (like the pounding of those rains in the song).
Jesus is the Foundation of this new life he has offered us. His is the Unshakeable Kingdom. We fully benefit from his provision, a provision that dawns on us slowly, like the thawing of a deep-frozen Canadian lake in spring. Our growth process is admittedly slow (or is that just me?) and at times imperceptible, but certain, unstoppable, invincible (Philippians 1:6!). So “let’s all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakeable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him, for He is like a fierce fire that consumes everything.” Hebrews 12:28 VOICE. And our ‘Foundation’ withstands the fire! PD
