I love books!! I am slowly expanding my library… slowly because I am a poor student and can’t afford all the wonderful books I see but I have a poke around the discount bins in Christian bookshops, and the religion section in secondhand bookstores… and every now and then I come across some gems! For example, the book I am currently reading is AWESOME… and it was 50c from a thrift store. It is called ‘Focus on Christ’ by John Stott and it is rocking my bedtime/waking up/bus riding world.

I was reading a chapter today about building your house on the rock (from the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7]). Good stuff. And not just what the book said, but what Jesus said

I was reminded of when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” This verse terrifies me. How easy I can find it to focus my energy on keeping up a ‘having it all together in God’ facade. But a reputation just isn’t enough. I want reality. To truly have depth in God. Because a mere reputation will not be enough when He is shaking everything that can be shaken (Haggai 2:6). A reputation for loving God will not be enough to keep me steady when loving God could get me killed. And when I stand before Him and give an account of my life (Romans 14:12), I won’t have other people putting in their two cents. Reality will be what matters in that day. The truth that He sees will be what matters (Hebrews 4:13). So I need to cultivate that now. I don’t want to be likened to the church in Sardis: “… you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1) No. I want to be alive from the inside out.

I once had someone pray for me, and while they were I saw a picture of a huge statue that looked just like me. It looked lovely from the front… then the picture wheeled around and I saw that behind it was crumbling away. I have never forgotten that. I don’t want that to be true of me.

All that to say… I think that this inward reality is so essential in the building of our firm foundations. As pointed out in Stott’s book, two houses may look the same on the outside, but their foundation can determine whether one may stand and one may fall. I don’t want to waste my life building a pretty looking house founded on nothing. I want to take the time to establish a good foundation. To build upon the true rock… Jesus. To be one who hears and puts into practice His word. In the parable of the houses, both builders heard the word. But only one chose to put it into practice. Reality matters. Living the word in our everyday lives is essential. That is what counts. And that terrifies me. Oh, that I would not be lulled into complaceny. That I would not be fooled by a false reputation and live maintaining it.

I need to be found rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17). Love is what will keep me steady. Love is as strong as death (Song of Songs 8:6). One day I may have to chose loving Him over keeping my life. But I don’t want fear of death to control me then. Would His love be my strength. Love is what will remain. All we are commanded to do is summed up in love (Mark 12:30-31). God is love (1 John 4:8), and He stands eternal… the strongest force in the universe. I want to cultivate love for God and others that will stand steady through the troubles that will come in this life (John 16:33). As in the days of Noah, the flood will come suddenly (Matthew 24:37)… there was no slow buildup of water over the years to encourage Noah along the way. But faithfully, he kept building the ark in a dry land. Apparently it took hundreds of years. I am sure people thought he was ridiculous. Maybe even the people closest to him thought so too. He had the opposite of a good reputation. But at the end of the day, that reputation was irrelevant. He and his family lived because He listened to God and prepared for a day of trouble.

When the flood comes I won’t have time to build my ark/foundation then. So the choices I make today matter. So would I choose every day to keep building on rock and not sand.