Be Careful Where You Build

If you're going to spend over $650,000 building a new house, there's one important thing to do before you begin: make sure you are building in the right place.

That's the lesson a Missouri couple learned the hard way. While building a luxury home in a beachfront development in Florida, they accidentally constructed on the lot next to the one they owned; they built on land belonging to someone else. The initial survey of the property was wrong, leading to the misplaced construction. Hopefully an acceptable agreement can be reached with the neighbors on whose land the house was built.

If the story sounds familiar, you may have heard the news a few months ago about the Rhode Island developer that mistakenly built a $1.8 million house on public park land. Again, the survey was wrong. The error came to light when prospective buyers had their own survey done of the property. In that case, no settlement could be reached, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court ordered the house removed from public land.

Jesus talked about two men that built houses; one who built in the right place, one who built in the wrong place. We read the story in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 6:

"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." (Luke 6:47-49)

If we build our lives on the teachings of Jesus, we'll have a solid foundation that will see us through even the hardest times. If we choose to build somewhere else, we may very well find ourselves with a life that can't stand up to life's trials.

Want to know more about how to base your life on Jesus and his teachings? Write to me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org. Or visit our HopeForLife.org website.