Looking For Sand Castles

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:26-27

This morning down in Florida, you might imagine looking for all those sand castles I built. Being of the rather dull and predictable sort, I named mine: health, wealth, strength, intellect, and youth. If a person were to earn a doctorate, she might also have one named 'education'. Another person may have become famous in this world and could well have a rather ornate sand castle named, 'fame'. A paragon in this world might this way build up quite a collection of sand castles. Each of us must now go down to the beach where Irma has passed and look for those sand castles, for the judgment has arrived and we must all present what we have done to the Lord.

What? You say a hurricane has nothing to do with the judgment? Well, if our sand castles cannot even stand up to a big storm in this world, what good will it do us in the final judgment?

We know it, but still we build up those sand castles. Youth is the one that requires no storm for its fall. Most of us by now have realized that the sand castle of youth is one of those that melts away a bit each day as the tide comes in and rolls out. Suddenly, or maybe not so suddenly, it seems that we are in our middle ages and that sand castle is looking not quite so strong. Why the tide has eaten away nearly half of it and the remaining rooms are looking a bit saggy too. Most of us will also face an overthrowing of health, wealth, intellect, strength, and the many other sand castles we try to build up in this world. A good tribulation such as Job had in his story can pretty much wipe them all out in one swoop, messenger after messenger, until the wife is telling us to do a terrible thing and get it all over with.

As Jesus told us, we just can't count on those sand castles. Just imagine people driving back down to south Florida this morning looking for a house made of sand they had built on the beach last week. We might think them quite foolish. Well, that is the word Jesus used for those who will not build on Him.

Have a new day in Christ, and a prayer for those all over the world facing disaster and hardship today,

Bucky