In Matthew 7:24, at the conclusion of the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells the parable of the wise man, who built his house on rock, and the foolish man, who built his house on sand. Jesus goes on to present two outcomes for these structures. The house built on rock will stand in the time of the storm. The house built on sand will fall when it is tested in the storm. Though He was a carpenter, Jesus was not taking this monumental opportunity to teach the multitudes about the necessity of a solid foundation when building a physical structure. He is of course speaking of the foundations on which we build our spiritual houses.

Jesus compares these two men to one that listens to His teachings and follows them (the wise man) and one who listens to His teachings and does not do them (the foolish man). As is often the case with God's Word, the situation is black and white: we can either be wise or we can be foolish. Jesus did not speak of a third foundation, one made of a mixture of both sand and rock, because God expects more from His followers than partial compliance (for comparison, see Revelation 3:14-16 for His feelings on lukewarmness).

Few of us in the Church would say we're foolish and we're not following Christ, but we've still seen many spiritual houses crumble before our eyes. What are some "sandy" foundations on which we can be guilty of building our houses today?

1. Our Riches. Wealth represents the epitome of deceitfulness as it relates to our foundations in life. It lures us in with its silky voice, promising us ease of life, security, and peace of mind. We are all too willing to let it convince us that when and if we reach it (whatever each one of us have defined as wealthy in our own minds) that we'll be satisfied and willingly switch our focus over to things we know are more important (or more solid). However, Solomon tells us that if we seek and trust in riches, we will never be satisfied (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12). As we labor and collect and store, life siphons it from us in the form of maintenance, health problems, taxes, market turns, theft, and decay. The more belongings we possess, the more the belongings possess us, with the effort to maintain it all robbing us of our time with our loved ones and with our God.

This seems to be an easier trap for family providers, who can fall into the habit of waking up with our family's financial well-being at the forefront of our minds and leaving that in focus until our head hits the pillow at night. At that point, we've shifted our trust from God to ourselves and we haven't spent the proper amount of time focusing on our family's greatest need, a firm spiritual foundation. We can twist the scriptures about a man providing for his family to justify overworking and overspending, but consider this, none of us can name a child of the Church that went unclothed or starved to death, but we can all name multiple children raised in Christian homes that starved to death spiritually.

Jesus told His followers to store our treasures up in Heaven where they cannot decay and assured us our physical needs will be taken care of - we need only trust in God for that (Matthew 6:19-34). Silver and gold cannot replace the peace found in God. Seeking satisfaction and security through riches is a lot like digging a hole in the sand, the closer we get to the goal, the more the sides cave in around us. Solomon, one of the wealthiest men who ever lived, called it vanity thousands of years ago. Why are we so willing to build our lives on it today?

2. Our Teachers. Perhaps more deceitful than riches, and often more destructive, is man's false teaching of God's inspired Word. Sadly, many in this world are content to place their eternal souls in the hands of a man that seeks to tickle man's ears rather than save his soul (2 Timothy 4:3). These same people that wouldn't let an outsider come into their home and take over their finances (because that's just way too important to trust to someone with no stake in the game) will hand over their most precious possession to that outsider and trust every word that rolls from his silver tongue.

God's Word is not intended to tickle our hearts, but rather it is intended to step on our toes. It's actually way more destructive than that, it's a sword of judgement that slashes through our heart, body and soul and exposes all of the sin within (Hebrews 4:12-13). It does so for our benefit, that we may bring ourselves in alignment with God's will before the day of judgment (a firm foundation before the storm).

Sometimes, false teaching occurs by accident in the form of a good-hearted man teaching error out of lack of knowledge (see Apollos in Acts 18:24-26). If any man leads us to God, as is the case for nearly all of God's children, let that be but a starting point for us to open the Bible and see what God's Word has to say for ourselves (2 Timothy 2:15) because no man has the same stake in our soul's salvation that we do. God's Word does not change. It is not fluid to cultural shifts, evolving vocabulary, or the whims of man. In contrast, to place our foundation entirely on man's word is to trust the sand not to shift.

3. Ourselves. Proverbs 3:5 instructs man not to lean on his own understanding, as in, don't build the foundation of our spiritual house there. There is much in the media today about mankind looking to his own thoughts to redefine God's established creation (there are dozens of genders, certain life has no value, marriage vows are not really binding, etc.). These may seem extreme to us, but they all originated as someone else's understanding, as many of the things that bring us woe today originate with our own understanding. It would seem that we don't need others to give us bad advice, we're quite good at giving it to ourselves. Our ways may not seem to be as much of a deviation from God's plan as ones like these that garner the collective attention of the religious world, but any deviation from God's Word is not permitted (see Nadab and Abihu, King Saul, etc.).

We need to be sure that the way we're living our lives is in accordance to God's Word, and not some hybrid of God's Law combined with our own beliefs. Why, because our thoughts are but a mere breath before God (Psalm 94:11). Our understanding can't be the basis for truth because it is short-lived and ever-changing, depending on the situation we are in at the time. Our thoughts as a teenager will differ greatly from our thoughts as a spouse, parent, career employee, grandparent, etc., and not necessarily for the better. In Jeremiah 10:23, the prophet acknowledged that it is not in man to direct his own steps. This is likely because mankind is in constant need of correction (v.24) as his thoughts are always changing and thus, the path he sets for himself is ever-changing. Many complain about the path to Heaven being narrow and difficult, but it sounds better than a path that's always moving. A time-lapse video of the changing landscape of sand dunes resembles our thoughts - ever carved and changed by outside forces acting upon them. This is not the case with God, whose truths are established in His Word, delivered once and for all, and not subject to the winds of change (Jude 3, Revelation 22:18).

These are only a few of the "sand traps" we can fall into as God's Children. On what foundation is your spiritual house built? Only you can know. Like a physical structure, your foundation is hidden from view, but it will be proven in the storm. Christ said those who follow and obey His Word will have a foundation of security. It is better that it be tested by God's Word now and make changes in our lives than to be tested in the storm of God's Judgment at the end of days. Let's all work together to make sure we don't face that storm with a spiritual house that is built on a foundation of sand.