If we were building a house, we would probably spend plenty of time thinking about the kitchen, the bedrooms, and where everything would go.
We would be excited to see the walls go up and begin to picture our family living there.
Digging a hole doesn’t bring the same excitement. But we would not want someone to skip the foundation just so we could move in sooner.
We understand that with a house. Sometimes we are less careful with our lives.
In Luke 6, Jesus described two men who built houses. One dug deep and laid his foundation on rock, while the other built on the earth without a foundation. Both houses faced the force of the water, but only one stood (Luke 6:48-49).
There is something about these men that we should not miss: both represent people who heard Jesus’ words. The difference was what they did with what they heard.
Jesus introduced the lesson with a question:
Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
That question belongs in our lives too. We can agree with everything we hear at church and still avoid doing what the Lord has made clear.
1. Put in the work before the storm
Luke 6:47-48 “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.”
One man did the digging and laid the foundation. The other left that work undone and built without one.
Digging deep and laying a foundation take effort. In Jesus’ explanation, the person building well comes to Him, hears His words, and acts on them.
We know the difference between hearing something and doing it. We can hear a sermon about forgiveness and agree with every word, then go home and keep refusing to speak to the person who hurt us.
We can teach our children to tell the truth while making excuses for something we have been hiding. We may even know which verse addresses it.
The hard part is often the step we already know to take. It may mean admitting we were wrong, making something right, or changing a habit we have defended for years.
We should not confuse that effort with earning salvation. The house stood because it was founded on rock, and our hope must rest in Christ rather than in how hard we work (Luke 6:48; Ephesians 2:8-9).
2. We can’t avoid the storm
The man who built well still faced the flood. Jesus says the stream beat hard against both houses, so the foundation did not keep the storm from reaching him.
We sometimes expect following the Lord to keep life from becoming difficult.
But a hard season does not mean we made a mistake by trusting Christ. In this parable, the house on the rock faced the water too.
We need to take His words seriously before the pressure comes. If we keep putting off obedience when things are easy, we should not assume that hardship will suddenly make obedience easier.
This does not mean we will never cry, feel afraid, or need help. We can hurt deeply and still depend on the Lord.
3. The foundation is always Jesus
Luke 6:49 “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
The second man had built a house, but when the water came, there was no foundation to hold it. Hearing Jesus’ words had not taken the place of responding to them.
That brings us to a question more serious than how we will handle the next hard week: what are we trusting to get us to heaven?
We may have grown up in church, learned the Bible stories, and known about Jesus for years. But hearing about Him is not the same as trusting Him.
If someone asked why God should let us into heaven, what would we say? If our answer rests on being a good person, attending church, or trying our best, we are still trusting ourselves to do what only Christ can do. Salvation is God’s gift, not something we earn (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. He has done what we could never do for ourselves, and there is no other Saviour we can turn to (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Acts 4:12).
Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you have never trusted Him, admit your sin and ask Him to forgive you and save you. Give up every other hope of getting to heaven and trust Jesus alone with your eternal soul. This is more than repeating a prayer; it is believing in Him from your heart (Romans 10:9–13).
You may have heard about the Rock for years.
Make sure He is the One you are resting your hope on.
