Thoughts of a College Pastor

Matthew 7:24-27
²⁴“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. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I don’t think this is a news flash to anyone out there. We live in a world that is driven by instant gratification.

We want what we want and we want it now.

We’re not big fans of putting in the hard work that it takes to build something that will last.

In fact we’re really not concerned with what will last because we are so concerned with the moment…the here and now…this instant.

I watch as so many dating relationships are started so quickly. They are started so quickly in hopes that this relationships will satisfy my desires instantly.

I watch as jobs are accepted as soon as the offer is on the table.

I must admit when I think back to my first full time ministry position I did exactly this. I was desperate for a job. I wanted to be doing ministry full time and I wanted to be doing it yesterday. I was interviewed for about 2 hours and then I started my 2 hour drive home. After I was on the road for about 30 minutes the church called me with an offer. I couldn’t turn it down. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t seek council. I jumped at it instantly.

So many times when we jump into things so quickly they end so badly. Relationships end in bitterness and resentment. We find ourselves to be extremely unhappy at work…having to force ourselves out of bed every morning. Or in my case you end up fired after 3 months.

I was thinking about all of this today and I realized that most of the time we jump ahead of ourselves and build the house before we ever lay the foundation. We put up the walls. Set the trusses. Bring in the drywall. Put up the doors. Install the windows. And start to decorate. The wind starts to blow and the house starts to shake and bend and give way. We step back to evaluate the situation and realize that forgot to lay the foundation.

Have you ever been there?

I have. I’ve tried to lay the foundation under a finished house.

It’s not that the house itself isn’t good. Because it is. The walls are good. The trusses are good. The doors are good. The windows are good. The decorations are good. But they are nothing without a strong foundation.

You might ask what that foundation looks like. I would say it’s spelled out for us in Matthew 7.

It’s the words of the one who teaches us how to build the foundation. It’s the words of the one who created the foundations of the earth. It’s the words of the one who created relationship and gave us the opportunity to have jobs. And those words must be written on our hearts. They must become our foundation. And we must start testing every decision we make with those words.

So before you go out and start hammering away and trying to build upward, may you do the hard work of digging deep and laying a foundation that will stand up against whatever life throws your way.