Matthew 7:24–27 (ESV)
Build Your House on the Rock
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house
on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of
it.”
This is the passage where the children’s song “Build Your House on the Rock” is based. So when I read this passage, I have to sing the song. This also reminds me of college. It
was in college that the hard truth and reality hit me that I didn’t really know a lot about the Bible because I had never read it. I had been to church every Sunday, but I was still Biblically illiterate. It was this hard truth that challenged
me to read the Bible from cover to cover. Before college, my life was built upon the sand. After reading the Bible, my life’s foundation became a lot more solid being built on the Word of God. The Lutheran Study Bibles states: “Jesus
begins this sermon by declaring that God blesses the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, and those who are hungry for God’s saving righteousness (5:3–12). These are the ones who receive Jesus and His teaching with understanding (cf 13:23).
Saving faith in Jesus is living and active, eager to do what He says. “Good works certainly and without doubt follow true faith” (FC Ep IV 6). Jesus concludes His sermon by picturing the secure future guaranteed to the wise disciple who hears His
words and does them.”
I pray: Jesus, my Teacher and Master, bless my hearing and doing of Your Word. Amen.
Engelbrecht,
E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible (p. 1593). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.