My dad was the kind of man who could build a house from the ground up. Construction was his passion, and he worked in it faithfully until his health no longer allowed him to. He used to tell me, “If your foundation isn’t strong, nothing you build on it will stand.” Before you raise a wall or drive a single nail, you have to make sure the base is level and solid. Everything depends on that first layer.

Jesus teaches the same truth. He says the wise person builds their house on the rock, a firm foundation. For us as believers, that foundation is the Word of God. When we read it, know it, and actually live by it, we plant our feet on something unshakable. And when your foundation is solid, no weapon formed against you can prosper.

I’ll never forget something that happened when my first child was born. We had rented a home a moved in, and across the street sat a charming little house that looked perfect from the outside. One morning, we were jolted awake by a loud crash. When we ran to the door, we found the family across the street standing outside in their pajamas, crying. They had felt the house shaking and ran out just in time, the back of the house had collapsed because the foundation gave way.

Many of us are like that beautiful little house. We look good on the outside. We decorate our lives with all the right things. But underneath, our spiritual foundation is weak. So the moment temptation hits or a storm blows through, everything we built starts to crumble.

We read the Word, but sometimes we don’t truly understand it. Or we try to twist it to match our lifestyle, instead of allowing our lifestyle to align with God’s Word.

Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7:26–27, the foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rains came, the floods rose, the winds beat against that house, and it fell hard. Without a real relationship with God, we’re just like that man building on sand. Our relationship with Him has to be rooted in love—love for God, love for others, and a humble heart that wants to understand His will.

I once had a conversation with an older, God-fearing woman about preaching and how different pastors interpret scripture. She couldn’t understand how so many preachers could read the same verse and come up with completely different meanings. It reminded me of someone who once told me that scripture “changes meaning depending on your situation.”

But the truth is this: God’s Word doesn’t change. The meaning stays the same. Life’s circumstances may highlight different parts of a verse, but the Scripture itself remains constant. Trials, sickness, financial hardships, relationship struggles, none of that is new to God. But misunderstanding the Word can leave us vulnerable to people who twist it for their own purposes. The Bible warns us about false prophets for a reason. Without knowing the truth, our spiritual house can fall just like the foolish man’s.

Think about how they build sandcastles at the beach, big, beautiful creations that take hours to build. But no matter how impressive they are, the moment the tide rolls in, they wash away. That’s exactly what life looks like when we don’t build it on a real relationship with God.

Every morning we should wake up and thank Him for another day, then ask, “Lord, how can I serve You today?” We should make it a goal to uplift others, to encourage someone who’s hurting, and to turn to God when we struggle to understand His Word. He promises in Matthew 21:22, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

And remember this beautiful truth:

“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.”
– 1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)

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