Humans are funny.

We seem to have this natural inclination to do the things we know are bad for us or to ignore the right advice. We plunge headfirst into our issues and try to tackle everything on our own, from relationships to our jobs to our futures. We think we know what’s best for us and when we do something stupid, we act surprised that things didn't work out the way we wanted them to.

Humans are just… funny.

The Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5 through 7 is one of the most quoted and well-known passages in Scripture. Towards the very end of this sermon, Jesus tells a story about two men. One man built his house on a rock and the other built his house on the sand. A storm comes one day and shakes the houses of the two men. The man's house built on the rock stands firm and doesn't come down, even with the wind blowing and waves crashing. The man's house built on the sand, however, feels the impact of the wind and waves and unable to withstand the pressure, falls to the ground.

The moral of this story isn't one that’s difficult to understand. The foundation for how we live our lives should be built on something sturdy that won't give way when we experience storms or troubles. This is why Jesus is so often referred to as “the rock of our salvation”- He's meant to be the foundation.

However, why is it that so many of us, even while knowing that Christ should be the foundation, get into the habit of trying to build our houses on shaky, unreliable sand?

We place our faith in other people, in our talents, in the world around us and hope for the best when things get bad. We become dependent on things or people for our happiness and when they fail to deliver what we want or need, our foundation is torn up from its very roots. Our lives seem to fall apart because there is nothing stronger than this surface level dependence to hold them up.

I think we could all stand to learn some basic architecture. Without a good foundation, your house WILL not stand. When the storms come and when life gets bad, it WILL fall because you've been relying on things to keep it up that cannot withstand the pressure.

Talent goes away. Looks go away. Possessions go away. Feelings go away. Knowledge goes away. Even people go away.

Building your hope and your life upon these things can only ever take you to a certain point before they wither and you’re left with nothing. It sounds like a pretty pessimistic point of view, but it’s the truth. And when that day comes when all your worldly gains fail you, what will you turn to? Will your house still be standing?

Life was intended to be lived with a meaning and a purpose. Humans, funny as we are, were intended to be firmly reliant upon and rooted in something sturdy that cannot wither away. We were intended to be rooted in Christ.

The next time you find yourself facing a storm that doesn't look like it will let up easily, consider this. When talent is gone, when possessions are gone, when people are gone… When all these things fail you and you look at the life you've built up, do you want it to still be standing?