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Verse:“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” —Matthew 7:26, NRSV
Sometimes we are tempted to start a new project without giving enough thought to its implications and long-lasting consequences.
That was the case with the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. Its foundation was started on August 9, 1173, but the tower itself was not completed until more than two hundred years later. The building has seven standard stories and a smaller bell chamber at the top. The tower is about 185 feet (57 meters) tall and weighs 14,500 tons (6,577 kilograms). It was built on unstable ground composed of soft clay and occasional layers of sand. Early on during construction, the ground started giving way, and the building began to lean. Many efforts were made to prevent the tower from tumbling.
Just as the Tower of Pisa was built on unstable ground, the spiritual lives of many professed Christians rest on a superficial and faulty form of subjective religion. Jesus addressed this issue at the close of His famous sermon on the mount.
In Matthew 7:21, we read, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” The distinction becomes even more clear-cut in the parable of the two builders, also known as the parable of the two foundations (verses 24–27).
Some people believe that the parable revolves around merely the personal acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ. And it’s true that “no other foundation can anyone lay” besides Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
But the real issue here goes beyond the mere acknowledgment and confession of Him as “Lord, Lord.” It is directed at anyone “who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice” in contrast to one “who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice” (Matthew 7:24, 26, NIV).
We should never forget that “the religion that comes from God is the only religion that will lead to God.” Human ideologies come and go like the waves of the ocean. Only “the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
Those who build their lives on the firm foundation of God’s Word will shine “like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).