Storms of Life
(#29) Lessons from Luke 6:46-49
**Hey Salt & Light Daily Readers**
Join me in warmly welcoming, Liam Hart, our guest writer for this week’s edition of The Salt & Light Daily. Liam resides near London in the U.K., he has a passion for ministry, photography, and writing. Liam is in pursuit and in training to become an ordained minister.
Thanks to Liam for providing his perspective on this next section in the Book of Luke. - Paul
Building on a Solid Foundation
“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” - Luke 6:46-49
Dear Readers,
As Jesus concludes what is undoubtedly the greatest sermon ever preached, He leaves the crowds with this: a parable that captures the essence of life itself—the difference between following Him and rejecting Him.
The weight of His words and teaching would have hung thick in the air. We read this today and the wisdom can slap us around the face with its beauty, but to those first listeners it wasn’t just wisdom – but a revolution.
We have here, two men, two houses and two very different outcomes.
My NIV Bible labels this section: The Wise and Foolish Builders. These are words often used to describe the men and their resulting houses and it creates an obvious parallel that I believe intentional in every sense. Proverbs 10:25 tells us “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever”. Righteous in its most simple meaning is to be in right relationship with God.
“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.” - Proverbs 18:10
Can you be in any kind of relationship with God if you hear his words and do not put them into practice?
The two men of the parable are separated only by their foundations. It’s a point sometimes missed by people but essential to its understanding – the storm finds both men. Jesus doesn’t say that hearing his words and putting them into practice allows us escape from the storms of life, but instead shows us that we can only endure them with Him as our foundation.
The floods and torrent represent here the storms of life. Trials, suffering, and anything you can think of that makes you wail in despair or simply sigh a loud sigh. In its simplistic form, it’s that flat tire on the way to work. In its extreme form it’s that bad news at the doctor’s office. It’s all of this and everything in between. The righteous, the wicked and everybody in between face the storms of life. No one is exempt. Our house which is our life, can either be left standing firm, or complete in its destruction. Since storms will come to all, the difference isn’t whether we face them, but whether we can withstand them.
What is your house (life) built on?
In ancient building, the cornerstone was the first and most important part of any buildings foundation. Jesus is the ultimate cornerstone, he communicated this throughout the Gospels (See: Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17). Peter boldly declared that “Jesus is, “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11).
Jesus himself references this prophecy and as does Paul. Its a common theme and the symbology is no coincidence. Without Jesus as our foundation (cornerstone), we are weak and vulnerable to the storms of life and all they bring. Without the true cornerstone of life, we are leading ourself to complete destruction.
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;” - Psalm 118:22
But what does this mean for us today?
At its core, this passage is about discipleship—what it truly means to follow Jesus. The big chorus serenading us is the fact that following Jesus is active, not passive. From its most simplest understanding it screams activity. ‘As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice’.
To go deeper, the word ‘practice’ in its Greek is ‘poieō’, it has a meaning of “to do, to make, to act, to carry out”. There’s no part of this which is passive. In contrast, the word we translate into ‘hears’ is ‘akouō’. It has a meaning of: to hear, to listen or to understand. It’s used frequently in the New Testament and conveys both physical hearing but also spiritual hearing. Understanding these two words allows us to see clearer the intention in the message, it’s not enough to simply understand. We must take action in this understanding.
Going even deeper we look at the description of these foundations and the mans action. ‘who dug down deep’. The foundations lay deep and not by chance, Jesus tells us directly the man dug these foundations down deep. The fact they are dug implies activity and authorship, the fact they are dug down deep by the man implies serious activity. It’s no small feat. I’d like to remind us at this point that JCB’s didn’t exist at this point.
Are your foundations dug deep?
What is it to have our foundations in Jesus dug deep? For digging deep isn’t just about effort—it’s about where we allow Jesus to take root. The sermon in which He is concluding tells us everything we need to know. It’s about the heart. We must let Jesus in His fullness take root within our heart. As the Greek words for hears and practice tell us, it’s not just about understanding with our mind. Its about understanding in everything and action.
The ancient wisdom on the heart is fascinating. The heart was seen as the center of not only our physical beings, but our spiritual too. As the heart pumps blood to every single cell of our body, nothing is untouched by our heart, not one cell. The previous verse before this passage tells us so much, ‘For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of’ (Luke 6:45).
Jesus, His words and His wisdom must reside in our heart as the foundations dug deepest within us. When this happens, not only do we see true discipleship, transformation and the gospel shared. But what we see is an ability to stand firm in all of life’s storms.
Jesus is the only foundation to life. Anything else will crumble under the weight of life’s storms. The question is, are we building on Him?
Closing Prayer - Father God, may we give consideration to how we build our lives not on ways of the world, but on the solid rock of the truth of your Word and the gift of your One and Only Son, it’s in the Name of Christ I pray. Amen.
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References / Resources:
Thirteen (x13) cornerstone references in Scripture: Job 38:6, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 19:13, Isaiah 28:16, Jeremiah 51:26, Zechariah 10:4, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, 1st Peter 2:6, 1st Peter 2:7.
Music on Firm Foundation: Cody Carnes, Firm Foundation (He Won’t).
Sermons on Firm Foundation: Charles Spurgeon, The Head Stone of the Corner; R.C. Sproul, Build on the Rock.
More about the Guest Writer:
Liam Hart, resides near in the U.K. near London. He has his own Substack and enjoys writing and theological conversations along with engaging with others. He previously was a full time photographer and is in training to become an ordained minister. Liam is also a cat lover. His most precious time is with his fiancée, Nana (pictured below).
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Good job Liam. Well written and great perspective, I like the cornerstone points you made.
He is our cornerstone and only foundation! Great word today!