My husband and I moved to the Pacific Northwest in April 2019; we live thirty minutes from the ocean. We like to get in the water up to our knees and let the waves crash into us as the water gets higher and higher. When one stands in the stand, you feel yourself sinking, and need to continually shift position to keep from losing balance. It was that experience that inspired this blog.
Matthew 7:24-29 (posted at the end) paints a picture of two different types of houses during a storm. It is clear Jesus was speaking of our spiritual lives. No one is exempt from the storms of life. We will all face hardships. It is during those life-changing moments when it matters most where you have chosen to build your house. Faith in Jesus Christ, the rock, is a wonderful start. If you are angry with God and refuse to cling to Him in your time of need, you are on shifting sand and are sure to wash away with the debris brought by the storm.
I want to take this theme a step farther from the lessons we were taught in Sunday School. (Remember the song, "The rains came down, and the floods came up," and doing the hand motions up and down?) For starters, many only call on Jesus and claim Him as their rock when the storms come. We need to go beyond the hard days and focus on every day! As I mentioned above, I felt the need to move and shift while standing in the waves to keep from falling. The waves of my analogy now represent temptation. Standing in shifting sand will not do you any good, you will still keep sinking as long as you stay put. You need to get out of the sand (move away from your sinful lifestyle) and get to Jesus the Rock!
The last time my hubby and I waded in the waves, another angle of this theme occurred to me. I can stand on all the rocks I want, but if I'm in the middle of the ocean when the waves hit, I will still be knocked over. You cannot simply stand on the rock; you must abide in the house on the rock. Does that make sense? In other words, you must remain grafted together with Jesus, you cannot make it on your own.
The best way we can remain in that safe house on the rock is by having a firm, solid faith and a sound doctrine. Just as we can choose to walk out the door of any house, we can choose to walk away from Jesus. If you do not pay your mortgage payment or rent, you could end up homeless. You need to keep living a clean life and ask for victory over habitual sins to keep abiding in Jesus. Do not walk away from the house on the rock and go to the house on the sand by believing you are eternally secure. That doctrine will wash you away with the incoming tide.
The book of Jude, written by one of Jesus' brothers, warns us that the grace message will be skewed and misrepresented, verses 3-4 say, "Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license—which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master." (the Message version) Sadly, this is too true. People have exchanged the Truth of God's grace when we repent (the rock), for a lie that says grace is an excuse to sin without repenting (the sinking sand). This false teaching gives people "sheer license" to do whatever they want and never worry about the consequences. (What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2)
Matthew 7:24-29 (posted at the end) paints a picture of two different types of houses during a storm. It is clear Jesus was speaking of our spiritual lives. No one is exempt from the storms of life. We will all face hardships. It is during those life-changing moments when it matters most where you have chosen to build your house. Faith in Jesus Christ, the rock, is a wonderful start. If you are angry with God and refuse to cling to Him in your time of need, you are on shifting sand and are sure to wash away with the debris brought by the storm.
I want to take this theme a step farther from the lessons we were taught in Sunday School. (Remember the song, "The rains came down, and the floods came up," and doing the hand motions up and down?) For starters, many only call on Jesus and claim Him as their rock when the storms come. We need to go beyond the hard days and focus on every day! As I mentioned above, I felt the need to move and shift while standing in the waves to keep from falling. The waves of my analogy now represent temptation. Standing in shifting sand will not do you any good, you will still keep sinking as long as you stay put. You need to get out of the sand (move away from your sinful lifestyle) and get to Jesus the Rock!
The last time my hubby and I waded in the waves, another angle of this theme occurred to me. I can stand on all the rocks I want, but if I'm in the middle of the ocean when the waves hit, I will still be knocked over. You cannot simply stand on the rock; you must abide in the house on the rock. Does that make sense? In other words, you must remain grafted together with Jesus, you cannot make it on your own.
The best way we can remain in that safe house on the rock is by having a firm, solid faith and a sound doctrine. Just as we can choose to walk out the door of any house, we can choose to walk away from Jesus. If you do not pay your mortgage payment or rent, you could end up homeless. You need to keep living a clean life and ask for victory over habitual sins to keep abiding in Jesus. Do not walk away from the house on the rock and go to the house on the sand by believing you are eternally secure. That doctrine will wash you away with the incoming tide.
The book of Jude, written by one of Jesus' brothers, warns us that the grace message will be skewed and misrepresented, verses 3-4 say, "Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license—which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master." (the Message version) Sadly, this is too true. People have exchanged the Truth of God's grace when we repent (the rock), for a lie that says grace is an excuse to sin without repenting (the sinking sand). This false teaching gives people "sheer license" to do whatever they want and never worry about the consequences. (What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2)
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. Revelation 20:12
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Simon that his new name will be Peter, because Peter means "rock." He says Peter is a rock because "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against" the church Peter is destined to establish. When Jesus is our rock, and we do our best to walk down paths of righteousness, we in turn become rocks for others. We need to encourage others to live holy lives and not shy away from the popular beliefs of the world. Sadly, the majority of Christians are falling away as predicted in 2 Timothy. Many now support the homosexual lifestyles, abortion, have no problem going into a bar, taking drugs, support witchcraft, and the list goes on and on. Do not be surprised when friends and family members become angry with you for speaking the Truth. You may even lose those relationships. However, now is not the time to be shy; we must stay strong and be a rock and encourage others to not only build their lives on Jesus, but to stay in that house!
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. II Timothy 4:2-4
But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:33
“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.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Matthew 7:24-29
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