Noah and his family lived in a valley near the mountains, a stream flowed through it which he, his wife Sophia and their two children, Liam and Emma used for drinking water, their livestock, and to irrigate new fields. One year the Sky was barren of clouds and the usual rains did not come.  Soon the stream dried up to a trickle which left no water for the vegetables in the field, so Noah and his family had to let their crops die. All of the trees turned brown and nothing was left growing but sparse patches of grass near the hill under the shade of the rocks. Not long after the crops died the trickle ceased, and Sophia and their kids were forced to stop watering the livestock, because there was barely enough water for them to drink.

One by one, the chickens, the dogs, the goats, and the milk cow died with no water to drink. Without the animals, no eggs, no milk, no meat, the family began to become malnourished. The puddles of water became mud and Noah was forced to leave his family, weak and dehydrated to look for water.

He kissed the dry parched lips of his wife Sophia and held her tightly, then he took his son and his daughter, weak from this accursed dryness into his arms and shed a small salty tear, as he headed for the mountains to look for water.

He climbed up and up to the heights, looking for water, but found none. Barely able to walk, he started back to his home, hopeless and weak.

As he approached the house, there was no shout of joy at his return. Not even a movement from anywhere around the once lush farm. Inside, he found his wife and children, on the bed, all dead from dehydration and malnutrition. He cried, but no tears were found in his eyes; too dry. He gently lifted Sophia and carried her body up the hill to the rocks. After, he carried  Liam and Emma up the hill, lastly he carried the shovel to dig the holes to bury his beloved family. With his last ounces of strength he began to dig his wife’s grave. One, two, three shovels full of dirt, and the fourth shovel of dirt caused him to fall to his knees. He collapsed and died, not from lack of food, or water, or strength. He perished from sorrow, his fourth shovel of dirt revealed a hidden spring at the base of the rock.

A spring where the grass had been in the shade of the rock, a spring only yards from their home. A spring of life, undiscovered until it was too late.

Please, don’t wait too long to discover the hidden spring in your life.

John 4:14 (look it up!)

 

“Truly truly I say to you he who believes in me, the works I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father.”

John 14:12

“Truly truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one sent greater than the one who sends him.”

John 13:16

“Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you, if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”

John 15:20

The works I do, he will do also. If we look at this sentence, the works I do, you will do also, we can substitute a different “work” and perhaps understand better. For instance, “the shoes I make, you will make also.” Let’s put it into perspective. The master cobbler has made his best pair of shoes for three years, and during that time he has taught twelve cobblers to make the same shoes. The same quality shoes of the same resemblance which the old cobbler has instructed them. Two days before his death the cobbler say to his apprentices;

“The doctor says I have two days to live and so now I command you in my name , continue to make these shoes as I instructed you, just the way I showed you these last few years. If you believe in my product and continue to make them according to my instructions, you will make many more pairs of shoes than I did, because I will die in two days.”

After the cobbler’s death, these twelve fully trained cobblers continued in the trade as trained, they make shoes for years and years, perhaps fifty years. In the future years some turn to mass production as technology increases. Most abandon the old methods thinking them to be archaic and tedious. But one cobbler of the twelve continues to make his shoes the same way as he was taught, one pair at a time, one stitch at a time, one tack at a time. Because he makes fewer pairs of shoes than the others he is laughed at and minimalized by the others as a relic.

The shoes of the production cobblers are many thousands more. People see the new styles and colors and buy them with zealous abandon. They wear them out, throw them away, and get another pair. These shoes are cheap to produce and cheap in quality.

The old style cobbler’s shoes are fewer. They look more old fashioned than his contemporaries. Unnoticed by everyone but the cobbler and the ones who buy his product is this; his shoes are still sturdy, lasting, and beyond the growth of those who wear them, they are often handed down and worn by multiple generations. Yes, they are more expensive, but this is because of the care and quality which this old style cobbler has put into them. Still he makes his shoes the way the master cobbler taught him, believing that his product was worth replicating. Those who own them do not throw them away, they hand them down to others because these shoes are built to stand the test of time.

The new style cobblers are living large, rich and fat with the world’s goods. They are sure that they are far more powerful than the old style cobbler and that they know even more than the master cobbler who taught them long ago, after all, look at all the shoes they’ve made compared to him.

What a failure they say among themselves when they look at the less successful, faithful old style shoe maker, still crafting by hand according to the masters teaching. All things considered, they are all still just shoes.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rains fell and the floods came and the wind blew and slammed against that house and it fell, and great was it’s fall. ”

Matthew 7:24-27

Both men have heard the same words from Jesus. The first man has believed the words and has build his life upon the truths of the Gospel, he has entered through the narrow gate. It was not an obvious, wide opening, but one which he had to search to find. The truth which he received upon entering was a blueprint for righteousness and truth, faith in Christ and reliance upon God and not his own self. He has constructed the walls of his  house/life on the rock of His salvation and grouted the stones with the blood of Jesus. It is firm upon the foundation of the prophets. The stones of his house are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. The storms of life rage against this house, but it is steady, built upon a foundation not made by man but by God.

The second man has heard the same words, yet he has not believed them. He has entered through the wide gate. (v. 13) It was easy to find because most everyone was going that way. He said in his heart; “This must be right because everyone is going this way, completely forgetting the words Jesus spoke he receives blueprints for for his life from his own intellect, the opinions of others and popular human beliefs.”

The stones of his house are greed,lust, pride, arrogance, self reliance, materialism and humanism. The foundation is upon the sands of change and uncertainty. The mortar of his house is self-righteousness. He is sure that he is safe. The storms rage against his house also, and as the stones of his life crumble, filled with fear the mortar of self-righteousness fails, his house is undermined and his house falls. And great is its fall.

Friends, we have all heard the words of Jesus. But not all of the stones of our life are His stones. The righteous wise and the unrighteous foolish are both subjected to the storms of life. Neither are exempt from failure, financial ruin, sickness, or death. The difference is their outcome. If your life is not built upon the solid foundation of Jesus’ words, please, please, turn around, listen to the Master’s word again, listen and believe, turn around and go back against the flow of people entering that wide gate and exit through it. Don’t stop until you are out, and when you are out, find that narrow gate which leads to righteousness in Christ Jesus. Find it and go through it. 

Our Father is rich in mercy and longs for your arrival inside the narrow gate. If you have breath in your lungs and another beat in your heart; repent, believe, and enter in. Our God is waiting with open arms, ready to forgive. Rebuild your house on the rock, the only solid foundation, with stones of righteousness and the mortar of Christ’s blood.

Yes, our God allows and even encourages you-turns.