08/18/2026
A great memory from 30 years ago…
Recently I saw some impressive construction underway, and I remembered a similar happening many years ago during one summer of my studies at Emory University/Chandler School of Theology COS in Atlanta. I was awed by the vast amount of construction that was taking place on the Emory University Campus. It was everywhere. One of the largest projects was the beginning construction of a new building for the Pitts Theology Library. And, well…..this project was happening right outside the window of the class I took on Modern Theology.
I occasionally found myself tiring of the lectures on theologians, and like a young boy seeing the big city for the first time, I was drawn to watch the huge cranes and augers as they dug deep to create the main foundation support for this new building.
I also must confess that right there in my inattentiveness to the professor, I was reminded that Jesus can touch us and jog our memory of His teachings when we lest expect it. At one point as I gazed at all the activity, one of Jesus’ parables jumped into my head, and I was carried to Matthew 7: 26-27, “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”
Now, I know that there are a lot of different types of soil on which contractors can build - clay, limestone, bedrock, or even chalk. But Jesus says there are only two types of soil on which you can build a life. You either build your life on rock or you build it on sand. There is no other option given to us. We must take note of this first example. Jesus said that a wise man came and built a house on rock. He was a prudent man, an intelligent man. It was not a solitary rock, not even a small cluster of rocks, but a large cliff, a mountain.
Luke records these words of Christ and he quotes Jesus as saying the wise builder "dug down" deep into the earth to lay his foundation. That part of the country where Jesus lived and from where He was preaching was very rocky terrain. He knew that rock was a prime base for building anything. But there was another type of soil of which Jesus spoke - that was sand. Christ said, "but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man." Jesus used the word "foolish," which in the actual Greek, is moro. It is the word from which we get our word moronic or moron. In today’s terms, Jesus was saying that this man was a moron and a foolish man because he built his house on sand. If you study that part of the world, you will find that there were dry river beds in Palestine that had been leveled out by streams and rivers. The land around those dry river beds was extremely flat, and therefore, no preparation of the land was necessary before building. This foolish builder thought, "I'll save time, I'll save money, and I'll save energy in putting it right here where the ground is already flat."
There are some sharp differences between these two builders. One of the builders, the wise builder, had a clear vision. He was looking far enough ahead so as to prevent having to reconstruct his house. The other man, the foolish builder, was spiritually confronted with two goods: the good for the moment and the good for the long run. It was the long run that the wise builder had in mind. Certainly it took more time to dig deep into that rock and build a foundation, but his work paid off.
As I forced myself to return my attention to the classroom and away from the activity outside, I was reminded that Jesus is saying that He wants us to work harder on our relationship with God more than anything else in our lives. Dig deep and build that solid foundation necessary to be the Christian God has called you to be!
CURTIS
