Gathering Rocks

Once there was a man who knew better than to build his house on the sand. He had heard that teaching before. He knew that he was supposed to build his house on a rock, so he went about collecting rocks. Some from here, some from over there. Some were broken pieces of bigger rocks, some were small stones. He piled them high and set about building his house. Once the house was complete, he felt proud, if not a little unsure of what he had made and the foundation he built it on; surely lots of rocks from different places were better than just one rock. When the storms came and the winds beat against the house, it would shift. Little pebbles and stones would break loose and roll away. He hadn’t expected so many storms. He never thought it would get this bad this often. He had imagined sunny skies all the time. But the more storms blew, the more loose rocks crumbled and broke away, until one day, the entire foundation of collected rocks crumbled away and the house with it.

There have been recent stories of worship leaders turning their backs on their faith, declaring on social media and in books that they are no longer Christians. Some have even apologized for their faith, for their previously held beliefs. (I’ll leave their names out so as to not give them any more of the attention they seek.) This parable came to me in reaction to this news. It is trendy for those in the millennial generation to do what the man in the story did; gather rocks or ideas/beliefs from many different places, believing that the more ideas they follow, the more well-rounded or cultured they are, thinking that will provide a solid foundation.

Jesus taught that anyone who listens to His teachings and follows them is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock (Matthew 7:24). Jesus is also called the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22, Acts 4:11). Don’t fool yourself into thinking that if you grab a teaching from over there, a good quote from here, a song lyric from over there and mash them all together that you have a solid foundation. When the storms come, that kind of foundation will crumble and you along with it. If you have not built your life upon the Rock that is Jesus Christ, then you do not have a solid foundation.

Winds and storms of this life don’t just have to be relegated to huge disasters. Winds and storms can also be doubts. The wind that slams against your foundation and house might be a question about your faith or a passage of Scripture that you never considered before and it gives rise to doubt. One of these worship leaders has cited this very thing as being one of his reasons for walking away from the faith. If Jesus Christ is your foundation, that foundation will hold up to any questions and doubts you can ever have. But if your foundation is shaky, if it’s compiled of many different teachings or ideas, then it will crumble under the weight of doubt.

So what have you built your life on? Have you gathered several small rocks and pebbles and piled them high, hoping they’ll stick together? Or have you put Jesus above all else and made him the Rock and Cornerstone of your life? The history of the Christian church is a testimony that if Jesus is the foundation and cornerstone, it will hold against anything thrown at it. 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed