“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.  And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

Here we are in ordinary time once again.  In the gospel today the question is not just about listening to the words of Jesus but whether or not we put them into action.  What kind of foundation do you have?  Is your foundation built on rock or sand?  It is easy to “know” which foundation we should strive for but it is quite another thing to put into action the building of that foundation. 

A foundation, for the most part, is not something that is seen.  When all the construction is complete the foundation isn’t what is shown off, it is the rest of the building that gets all the glory.  But without a solid foundation a building could not remain strong.  When bad weather attacks the building it will not withstand the pressure if the building is not on a solid foundation.  Jesus tells us that it is not enough to cry out; “Lord, Lord” will we enter the kingdom of heaven?  Mere lip service is not enough to get the job done.  We aren’t measured by what we say so much as by what we do.  When our words are matched with proper action, then we have something solid to stand on.  It is easy to talk a good game; it is a lot harder to live out the gospel life.  Jesus is trying to teach the disciples what is necessary for them to be good and faithful servants.  Are we listening to what he has to say?

If we are good listeners we will learn that it is important to be other-centered and not self-centered.  We cannot be people who only look out for ourselves while ignoring our neighbors.  Jesus was the true example of how to live a life that was rich in compassion and love.  We only have to listen to what Jesus did and what he taught his disciples to learn what we too must do in our life.  When we have Jesus as the foundation of our life it allows us to be able to stand strong when temptation tries to lead us back to our selfish ways.  When we put into action the gospel message of loving God with our whole being and our neighbor as our self, then we are truly grounded in a faith that will weather any storm.

It is very easy to allow the world and its temptations to erode our foundation and steal our faith from us.  We must always work to make Jesus the center of our life.  We may slip but that doesn’t mean that we have to give in or give up on our life.  Jesus will never leave us alone nor will we ever lose the support of the Father.  Our foundation can always be shored up and made stronger if we continue to turn to Jesus for help.  God’s love is all around us if we would open our hearts to his message of healing.  While it may seem an uphill battle it is well worth the extra effort to make sure our foundation is set in the gospel message.