642 Building on Firm Foundation

What would you be willing to sacrifice to have a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean right outside your windows? Well first, you would need millions of dollars. But what about the sacrifice of stability? The sacrifice of a firm foundation. The sacrifice of knowing that house might not be there after the storm. Yesterday I took a group of podcast listeners and BIG Life girls on an adventure here in Southern California. We went kayaking in the sea caves off the shore of beautiful LaJolla. There on the shore were mansions built on the edge of the cliff, hundreds of feet above the ocean. These homes were literally hanging off the edge, providing the most stunning views from every room in the house. I quickly thought, wow … to live in one of those houses! What a treat that would be. Then our kayak guide told us a story. A story of the light pink house with the strange looking slab of cement sticking out from the cliff. On that cement once sat their guest house. One night a storm came in and the waves came crashing, and their entire guest house fell hundreds of feet down into the ocean. To add insult to injury, they were fined millions of dollars for the cleanup required. In that moment I decided I was glad I didn’t own that house. Why did this happen? Those houses are built on sandstone instead of rock. The sand is continually eroding and caving in. Eventually every one of those houses will fall, it’s just a matter of time. Jesus warned us this wasn’t a good idea. He warned us of getting caught up in the beauty of the view and forgetting the importance of the foundation. Matthew 7:24-27 is Jesus’ parable of The Wise and Foolish Builder: “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. 25 The 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. 26 But 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. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Notice one thing in common here for both houses, they’re both hit by storms. Storms are a fact of life and not a single one of us are immune to it or excluded from it. Crap happens. Hardships hit. Struggles are real and life gets hard. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean your house is isolated from the storms. Nope, life is going to get you too. Satan will attack your marriage. He will attack your children. He will go after your dreams. He will bring his best storms right to your door. You are guaranteed to have troubles in this life. It’s promised. You shouldn’t be shocked when things happen, after all we have been warned. Jesus said “in this world, YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE.” Look around, are you living in this world? Yes, yes you are. You’re still here on Earth this side of heaven, so of course there is trouble. We must build our house to prepare for that trouble, not just hope trouble won’t come to our side of town. So Jesus says the storms will come on all of us, the ability to withstand the storm depends on our foundation. What have you built your life on? Is your life built on image? It’s all about the Instagram photo and the likes it will get? Oh girl, that’s gonna come crashing down. You may have photos of smiling faces, but those families are falling apart behind the scenes. Is your life built on praise? You sacrifice everything that is true to just play a role that makes everyone like you. Let me tell you something, that is exhausting. What happens when the praise stops? You lose your identity. Don’t you know you can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world,