The Rock Foundation

UV 1627/10000 The Rock Foundation
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
Matthew 7 v 24
The recent historic floods in Chennai proved the truth of the above uni-verse: For literally,” the rains came down and the floods went up” as the song so prophetically put it. The wise man’s house or life stood while the foolish man’s house came tumbling down. Those who built their houses in the flood basin of rivers and canals had to leave their houses in distress and lost their vehicles and much property. The uni-verse demonstrates that it is not sufficient to live or survive but in order to thrive or live well, we need to decide on what or where to build our lives. It is more important to decide the location of a house than to build it very strong or beautiful.

The location of our house is a metaphor to what is the foundation on which we are building our lives. Is it a foundation of faith- rock-like faith that nothing, repeat nothing can shake? Is it a faith that gives rise to hope beyond current circumstances? Is the superstructure of our lives built of love for God and fellow human beings? We need to hear the Word and store it deep in our hearts and then put the principles or rules of life derived therefrom into practice. This would show that we have built our house on rock. Jesus is the Rock of ages and His promises and Word are the eternal springs that rise from that rock to satisfy our thirst, strengthen us from within and nurture and nourish our faith. Without the Bible and its practical lessons for life and leadership, our lives are like a bubble, waiting to burst with the palpable surface tension. The uni-verse shows that no one is permanently wise or permanently foolish. The choices we make will determine the extent of our folly or wisdom. The day we decide to obey the principles discovered or derived from the Word is the day we have become wise and we have departed from the folly of the world. Building a beautiful edifice on a foundation that will not last is folly. The foundation is what the Lord has provided. What we do on that foundation is our lives and work.

Next to the location of the house is the material with which we build our lives. Are we building with selfish thoughts, words and deeds or are we building with noble thoughts, words and beautiful deeds which can be likened to precious stones, diamonds, precious metals and rare substances of great value to the Lord? For the past five years I have been sharing my thoughts on unique verses from scripture that throw light on the principles that should govern our lives, our leadership patterns and management practices. These are not meant for mere reading but to “ put into practice”. The principles, values and concepts need to be translated into actions and the actions into lifelong habits for our houses or lives to be built on unshakeable rock. Most people are a kind of sand sculptors, spending a lot of time and effort in building structures that will not last but we are called to build lives with an enduring legacy.

Prateep V Philip