THE PARABLE OF THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH BUILDER.
Text: Matthew chapter 5 to chapter 7.
“Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it “.
Jesus here at the end of the Sermon on the Mount which He started from Matthew chapter 5 to Matthew chapter 7, gave a parable of two kinds of people: Wise and Foolish. It is my prayer that you will be a wise builder. Let us consider what we can learn at least from this parable in today devotion. From this parable, we learn, in the first place, the distinguishing marks and characters of wisdom and folly, and what it is which properly constitutes the element of each.
According to this passage the proper mark and character of wisdom, is both to hear and to do the sayings of Jesus Christ, whereas the proper mark and character of folly is, to hear only, and not to do. A man therefore cannot properly be called wise, simply because he has much knowledge of the bible, but he becomes wise in proportion as he applies such knowledge into his daily living, to elevate his love and affections to the things of God, and to be a good example to others in righteous and Christian living.
He cannot be properly called foolish on account of any defect in knowledge, but he becomes foolish by the possession of knowledge unpracticed or unused, in consequence of not applying it to convert him from the love of evil to the love of good, and thus to influence his life and others. We are instructed yet further by this parable of wise and foolish builder, that in building our spiritual house, we ought both to hear and to do the words of Jesus Christ, and thus to lay the foundations on a rock; in other words, we ought to believe in God, and to form our life opinion in obedience to his heavenly precepts of love and charity, in which case our house can never fall, because it will ever be kept in connection with the Eternal purpose of God. Whereas, if we only hear, and do not, we shall then build our house on the sand (For sand, we know, is a strong substance, without coherence and consistency) and when trial or temptation assaults us, it will fall, and its fall will be the greater, because we knew our duty and did not carry it out. Â Let us therefore, from now on, learn what our Heavenly Father requires of us, and also to practice it, then, when the hour of trial and temptation comes, we may stand steadfast and unmovable, for it was founded on a rock.
Prayer: God help me to build my house upon a rock as a wise builder. The power to hear your word and practice it let it be mine in Jesus name. Help me Lord so that I may be justified at the end of my life.
