In /The Book of Matthew/, Jesus said, “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.” So according to Jesus, the wise man builds his house on
rock, while the fool builds his house on sand. And as you’ll see, to me, this is clearly
a metaphor for the smartest way to build your life. What does it mean to build your life
on rock instead of sand, and how do we do that? That’s what I’m gonna explore in
this essay.
Let’s start at the beginning: what does it mean to build your life on rock instead
of sand? Building your life on rock means that you’re building your life on a strong
foundation, and if you build your life on a strong foundation, you won’t fall apart
when hard times inevitably come. You’re able to survive and thrive in any tragedy.
All the effort that you put into building your life won’t have been wasted, because
your work stands the test of time. You’ll have this constant feeling of moving forward,
and you won’t be regretful of how you spent your time. But building your life on sand
means that you’re building your life on a shaky foundation, and if you build your
life on a shaky foundation, you will fall apart when hard times inevitable comes. When
tragedy strikes, you’ll find that much of the effort that you put into building your
life has been a waste of time. You’ll feel frozen, or as if you’re moving backwards,
and you’ll be regretful. You’ll say to yourself, “why did I waste my time on those
things which don’t matter now?” or, ”why did I think those things were so important?”
A lot of your time will have been spent in vain, and you’ll find yourself having to
rebuild your life once more. So how do we get it right from the start? How do we build
our life on rock instead of sand?
The life we build depends on how we spend our attention. Our attention is our most valuable
resource, and it’s limited. So how do we decide how to spend it? How we spend our attention
is determined by our priorities. The more something is a priority for you, the more
attention you’ll spend on it. And because you have a limited amount of attention you
can spend each day, you can only take on a limited number of priorities. And in each
moment of time, your priorities can’t be equal. You have to decide: will you eat right
now or drink water? Will you focus more on your career or your family? Will you take
that stable corporate job or try entrepreneurship? Will you move forwards or backwards? Each
moment demands a single priority, but of course, your priorities can (and do) change throughout
your life. And on top of that, one priority can have many sub-priorities. For example,
your priority may be to survive. So that may mean you drink water in one moment, let’s
call that sub-priority A, and then eat in the next moment, let’s call that sub-priority
B. Both sub-priority A & B are an expression of one main priority: survival. So what does
all of that mean? It means that we have a hierarchy of priorities, and at the very top
of the hierarchy is our master priority—our highest value, our main drive or desire, the
foundation of our life. Our highest priority will be the foundation on which our life is
built—the sun around which all of our other priorities revolve around. So how do we build
our life on rock instead of sand? It comes down to what we choose as our highest priority.
And all priorities fall into one of two categories: time-dependent priorities and timeless priorities.
Time-dependent priorities are exactly what they sound like: priorities that depend on
time. Money, status, knowledge, physical strength or attractiveness, romantic partners, and
worldly power are all examples of time-dependent priorities. They all take time to acquire,
and because they’re acquired through time, they can be taken away by time. A single tragedy
can cause you to lose all your money, your status, your knowledge, your strength, your
attractiveness, your partner, and so on. So building a life where your highest priority
is a time-dependent one is equivalent to building your house on sand. When tragedy strikes—if
your highest priority is a time-dependent one—the life you built will fall apart.
So what does it mean, then, to build a house on rock? It means building a life where your
highest priority is a timeless one. But what does that mean? A timeless priority is a priority
that doesn’t depend on time. It takes no time to achieve. I think the best example
is learning, and I mean learning—not knowledge. Knowledge takes time to acquire, but learning
can be done in each and every moment, even by little babies and animals. And learning
/can/ bring you things like money, status, knowledge, strength, attractiveness, romantic
partners, and power—things that take time to acquire—but entering a state of learning
can be achieved instantly. The person who builds their life on the foundation of a timeless
priority, like learning, builds their house on solid rock, because even when tragedy strikes,
/they can still live in accordance with their highest priority/: learning. Even amidst tragedy,
they continue to thrive and make progress. Now let’s take a look at two examples: one
of a life based on a time-dependent priority and one on a life based on a timeless priority.
Ever since Tony was a child, he wanted to be happy, and he thought the best way to do
that was to be rich. So he spent all of his time trying to make money, even if he had
to work a job he hated, even if he had to take advantage of someone, even if all of
his relationships suffered. And as he made more money, he became more unlikable, because
he changed in the worst ways to make his money. Slowly, as he became richer, he bought nicer
cars, homes, and clothes, but he also became more isolated and alienated from others. And
as he became more isolated and alienated from others, he became more lonely, and because
he was lonely, he became resentful, and because he was resentful, he alienated himself even
more from others and worked even harder to make more money. He thought money was the
solution to all of his problems. And one unfortunate day, tragedy struck: he was diagnosed with
stage four cancer. In that moment, Tony’s entire life fell apart. He start to grieve
the future he had just lost, and he became regretful of his past. /What was I doing this
entire time,/ he thought. /I based my entire life on a goal which I have have no chance
of reaching now. And I spent all my time working towards that goal, and what do I have to show
for it? Some money and some nice things, but of what use are those to me now? I can’t
take them with me when I’m gone. I’m so sick, and I have no one by my side to go through
this with. No one to take care of me, to laugh with, to love, to spend my time with. I wish
I would’ve done things differently. I wish I would’ve enjoyed life more. I put all
of my enjoyment off to the future—a future which may no longer exist./ And it’s sad
to see, but Tony built his life on sand. He built his life on a time-dependent priority,
and so what was given by time was taken away by time. When tragedy struck, it shook the
foundations of his whole life, and he fell apart. His entire past and future came into
question, he became regretful, he had to take a good look at himself, and he has to choose
to rebuild his life once more. So what does it look like if you build your life on a timeless
priority?
Ever since she was a child, Minn’s highest priority was simply to learn. She followed
her interests and her natural curiosity, and as a result, she learned a lot about herself
and others. She discovered her love for physics and pursued a PhD in it in university. Her
friends told her that she was wasting her time and was better off getting a degree in
engineering or business, because she would apparently make more money in those fields,
but Minn never really cared about money. She just wanted to do what she loved. And because
she had such a healthy relationship with herself, she had a healthy relationship with others.
She supported others in following their interests, and she took an interest in what was going
on in their lives. So naturally, she developed many really good friendships. And one day,
like Tony, Minn was struck by tragedy: she too was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
And as treatment and care took over her life, she adapted. She wasn’t attached to her
career as a physicist. She had spent her life doing what she loved, and she enjoyed every
moment of it, but now she was being called to new challenges in her life. She had new
things to learn. Minn continued to study physics and work on theories whenever she felt up
to it, but when she felt a little sicker, she invited her friends to come visit her.
Because of how she supported people in their lives, so many people came to support her
in her final days. They laughed with her, they spent time by her side, and they learned
just as much from her as he had from them. Minn was never lonely, never bored, and above
all, she was never resentful. She had no regrets. She built her life on a timeless priority,
and so when tragedy struck, it did not effect the foundations of her life, and in fact,
she continued to thrive until the end.
So Jesus said that the wise man builds his house on rock, and how do we do that? By making
a timeless priority, such as learning, the foundation of our lives.
So that concludes my exploration of Jesus’ teaching in /The Book of Matthew/. As always,
this is just my opinion and understanding of Jesus’ teaching, not advice. Feel free
to use this information however you like, and if you have a different take on the his
words, I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments. If you liked the video, please
consider liking the video. And if you’re looking for another video to watch after this
one, I recommend watching my video “Jesus - The Most Powerful Rule You Can Follow”.
I’ll put a link to it in the description below and in the top right of the screen right
now.