Sand-Castles on the Shore
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
An alarming trend has emerged within Christianity. Each church fighting to gain recognition and grow their congregation has become a splinter in the overall body of Christ.
When the human body has a wood splinter, it inflames the region, often swelling. It does this for two main reasons. The first is to notify the head that there's a problem, the second is to alert the rest of the body's defense mechanisms that there is some work to be done.
When I was a child, my mom would take a sewing needle and very gently pry the skin or poke at it to loosen the splinter and then pull it out with tweezers. However, the body may, if we fail to remove the splinter, try less invasive ways of dealing with it such as walling off the splinter with dead skin cells and pushing it out as the skin heals itself and sloughs off the rest of the dead cells.
What does this have to do with the verse above? Well ultimately, humans who act to gain attention and notoriety rather than to further the kingdom end up being much like a splinter. We are likened by the writer of 1 Corinthians to a body, of whom Christ is the head. That being the case, when 1 part tries to take control and doesn't operate in harmony with the others, there's a process for dealing with it.
This thought has been growing in my mind with regards to a particular example, which I cannot get into at length or with clarity due to the nature of the issue. However, those who know me will undoubtedly know what I am referring to.
I have seen 2 STARK examples of this play out in my personal and professional life lately. In my personal life, I saw things change in a circumstance that made me have to distance myself from it. In my professional life, something that was thought to be unshakeable is being shaken. In both areas, the people involved are part of the aforementioned body of Christ. They believe, to some extent, that the Lord is our provider as is described amply in scripture. They rely, to what extent I cannot guess, on the kingship of Christ to govern their lives. Yet they have decided to build Sandcastles. Whether of the need to control or the need for funding, there has been building happening not on the firm foundation of Christ. This breaks my heart because as the old hymn states "All other ground is sinking sand." That describes the state to which they will fall if they do not shift course and start the process of correction and fixing of the foundations.
As a believer, I cannot express that I have done this perfectly. However, I have seen many errors in my ways and work diligently to correct them through fear of the Lord and the grace of my Savior. I write this today as a warning. Do not build on anything that Christ is not the center of. Do not build your life, your ministry, your family, your career, your fun, your finance {...} on ANYTHING other than Christ. It will fail and bring similar tears as a childhood sandcastle falling apart when the waves come in.