Matthew 7:24-27

Ben Doggett learns faith lessons from Bob the Builder.

Ben Doggett

I wonder what the latest big change in your life has been? Was it a positive change or a negative one? Did it take you by surprise or had you been able to plan for it? How different will life look now that it has happened?

We all experience change in our lives. There's the old expression 'change is here to stay'. At the moment my life feels like one change after the next! Hot on the heels of my second child being born, I've had changes in my role at work and we are now in the process of moving house! So it's perhaps unsurprising that God's guidance about handling change feels particularly helpful right now.

I have a fun loving two year old boy who is going through a massive Bob the Builder phase at the moment and I've been surprised at how many life lessons can be learnt from our new friend Bob.

Like most kids programmes, Bob the Builder follows the same fairly generic storyline in every episode. After the epic theme song Bob outlines the project that needs doing and his team start working on. However, something will always go wrong, someone will learn a lesson but ultimately the team will pull together to still get the job done! My son (and secretly me) love it when the up tempo music starts and the building montage begins.

Being an effective builder, when Bob is building something from scratch he always starts with laying a foundation. Maybe Bob has been reading Jesus' wise words from Matthew 7?

"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. 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. 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27

It's a well-known passage. Jesus tells us that if we put His words into practice then it'll be like we're building on a rock and we will be able to withstand life's storms. The storm that Jesus describes in Matthew 7 sounds seriously intense. It makes me think of the kind of ferocious storm that all too frequently leads to me having to rebuild my garden fence.

I find it interesting though that Jesus doesn't say "then a massive storm came but don't worry I'll come and save you."

There are definitely times when God comes and wonderfully saves the day. However, in this story, He simply says that the house didn't fall, it stood firm.

It's easy to worry when changes come and to get too caught up focussing on the change itself.

I find such encouragement in Jesus' story about the builders. I can see that I first need to be ensuring that I'm regularly hearing His words through my reading of scripture and by time spent in His presence. Then, I need to keep my eyes fixed on Him and put His words into practice. If I do this then the storms and changes can rage but my house, built on the rock, isn't going anywhere!