Friends
When you live in North Carolina, summer vacations are all about the beach. I love my time sitting seaside! It’s a good place for contemplation. Have you had your time in the sand yet this summer?
+++
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
Matthew 7:24-26 – NLT
I sat in my beach chair and watched the castle rise out of the sand. The children were hard at work, building turrets and towers, fortress walls and a moat. They molded and shaped their structure, creating their masterpiece.
Alas, their efforts were in vain. For within a few hours, the high tide rolled in and washed away all that hard work. Their toil was pointless. Their castle creation was lost to the shifting sands.
Now, I know those kids built that sand castle for some beach day fun, but the futility of their efforts struck me. It made me think about some of the things we build our lives upon. While we treasure our families and cherish our friendships, we spend an exorbitant amount of our waking hours focused on our work, our wealth, and our stuff. We are consumed by our jobs, constantly bombarded with emails and texts by our always handy cell phones. There is no escape, even at the beach. Money and materialism consume our thoughts as we plot and plan our next expenditures.
Of course, we have to work, and we need to do it well. Surely, we need to secure financial stability for our families. It is certainly reasonable to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor.
Yet, what we often fail to consider is that those things can come and go like the rising and falling of the tide. In an instant, our earthly castles can be washed away.
We need more. We need something that lasts. We need a firm foundation on which to stand, one that won’t wash away with the shifting sands. We need a faith that stands on a bedrock of Truth. We need a hope that will steady us for the rough waters ahead.
So where do you stand today? Is your faith built on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ or does it come and go like the ocean’s tide? Will your hope keep you strong when the storms come or will you stand helplessly on the shore as the waves wash away your castles in the sand?
I’m headed for firmer ground.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”*
+++
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7 – NLT
PRAYER
O Lord Jesus, we stand upon Your Great Name. You are our Rock, our Fortress, our Refuge. On Your love and grace, we build a firm foundation of faith, a foundation that will not shift with the sands or wash away in rough waters. We are secure in Your mercy and faithfulness to us. Our hope is in You alone and in that Truth, we find our rest.
In the Mighty Name of Jesus, we pray,
Amen
Blessings,
Anita
-APS 7/11/2022
Footnote: Quote from the Hymn, “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less” by Edward Mote, 1834
Faith Beyond Sight 