In Matthew 7:24-27 Christ tells the story of the wise and foolish builders.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
As a child I remember singing the song about this section of scripture. I remember thinking that it was foolish to build on the sand and wise to build on the rock; however, there is a greater, much deeper lesson to this passage of scripture.
Through this example Christ expresses the importance of not only listening to His words, but also doing what He says. In John 12:48 Christ says, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” We must be actively obedient to the commandments of God.
In John 14:15 Christ says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Christians show their love and faithfulness toward God by being obedient to the Word of God. Christians should always be striving to please God according to His Word in everything they do in their lives.
In James 1:22-25 the Bible states: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Christians must be like the man who does not forget what he looks like after leaving the mirror: doers of the Word.