Matthew 7:24-27
We live in a world where we want everything in a hurry. I've seen folks stand in front of a microwave and complain that it takes a full minute to heat up a cup of coffee! Can you relate? We like drive-thru convenience, all things disposable, and cell phone availability.
And never have so many complained of having so little time to enjoy life.
Too often we sacrifice quality for convenience. We say we don't have time. We say we can't wait. We've embraced a "just do it" philosophy. More and more people are sacrificing enduring truth for quick fixes.
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But if we want to ensure that we can weather life's greatest storms no matter how strong the winds or how torrential the rains, we need to step out of the quicksand of convenience and step onto the bedrock of lasting truth.
Storms are an inevitable part of life. It's simply a reality that our lives will experience a train wreck or two. You may be on the brink of a storm or in the middle of one today. And you may be tempted to jump to a quick-fix solution. But before you act, let me show you how you can build a life that lasts — a rock solid life.
Jesus, a carpenter and the builder of mankind, provides clear instruction on how you and I can build a rock solid foundation for our lives. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7, Jesus talks about a man who builds his house on rock and another who builds on sand. In this story, Jesus gives us three building blocks for a life that will last.
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.1
Jesus focused on the fundamentals of faith. Forget the complexities, forget the enigmas, forget the theological twisters that all too many of today's teachers focus on. The faith that Jesus taught was profound enough to set the religious establishment of His day on edge yet so simple that a child could understand it.
It's time that we all got back to the basics of faith.
John Wooden is a man who practiced the basics. Wooden was a great builder of basketball players and teams and led the UCLA Bruins basketball team to championship after championship.