YOU ARE LIKE A SMART CARPENTER WHO BUILDS HIS HOUSE ON SOLID ROCK.
MATTHEW 7:24 TM
The Message (TM) is a fresh and modern approach to the text of the Bible that sheds new light on its truth. Listen: ‘If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards’ (Matthew 7:26-27 TM). Jesus doesn’t want you to be a hypocrite, pretending to be a certain way to look really spiritual but in your heart being totally different. Going along to church and doing Bible study isn’t what makes your foundations strong. Spending time with God and developing your relationship with Him does. In the Bible one of God’s names is ‘The Rock’ (sound like a wrestler!), and it also says ‘you are God’s building’ (1 Corinthians 3:9). So, if the building is on ‘The Rock’, when storms come they’ve got no chance. Imagine that your life is a house; you’ve got walls, doors, a kitchen, a lounge, a bedroom, a bathroom. If a load of people occupy your life that don’t treat you very well and are really messy the house is going to suffer. If, on the other hand, you let Jesus come and make His home in you, (John 14:23), then the house will be strong on the inside and on the outside. ‘If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit; but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock’ (Matthew 7:24 TM).
