Our FOUNDATIONS are built on words put into action

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Matthew 7:24-27


The title of this passage in my Bible says "building on strong foundations". Most of us who have been Christians a while will remember the silly kids song about the wise man building his house upon the rock complete with actions and all (I bet you are singing it now in your head). I bet you know the song, but I also bet you used to read this wrongly like me. I always saw the wise man as a Christian and the foolish man as a Non Christian. This is slap bang wrong actually.

Looking afresh we see that the wise man is the one who not only hears Jesus's words but he puts them into practice. He is the one who builds his life on a solid foundation, not by what he knows, but by what he does in response. We have an active faith that only really makes sense when it is lived out through deliberate choices everyday. This is our Page 1 mindset - we hear the words of Jesus and then we do em!

Christians tend to spend a lot of time figuring out every single thing that they believe about every subject in the world. They try hard to get their knowledge of God correct in the hope that this will give us more faith and security. The reality is that Jesus said if you have even the tiniest bit of faith you can move mountains. As soon as we receive "mustard seed" faith by hearing the word of God, we are challenged by Jesus to move mountains. And you can't move a mountain without doing something!

Jesus's favourite song was "Don't Stop Moving" by S CLUB 7.

His words are designed to be put into action. You would never do a driving theory test and never start to drive. You would never but a wide screen telly and read the instructions but never turn it on. In the same way you can't listen to Jesus's words and say "that was nice" and then walk off and live like a man chilling in a house of sand. YOU GOTTA GET MOVING!

If you want to build a strong foundation, don't get tricked into the idea that hearing the words of Jesus is enough. You have to start living them out. Soon enough the wind will start to blow on both the wise and the foolish person, and then we will get to see which kind of person we are, not by how much we know of the Bible, but by the way our house stands up to the pressure of storm.

FOUNDATION CHECK: Do you know what the words of Jesus really are? How are you putting them into practice today?