Deeper Reflection
FROM THE GROUND UP, these two houses appear the same. They were built by similar men, probably of similar competence and using similar materials. It was not as though one house was made of straw and the other of bricks. Neither was it the case where one house was buffeted by a Category 5 typhoon, while the other experienced a gentle summer breeze. Both houses faced strong, sustained winds from a similar terrible storm that caused floods. The difference between the two houses was unseen, below the ground – in their foundations! One house was built on the sand, whereas the other on the rock. But for the storm, we would have been none the wiser! Storms test our foundations. Storms reveal the unseen. The COVID-19 pandemic is a horrific storm that spared no one! What has it revealed about your foundations? Generally, being a Christian in modern Singapore does not cost us much. Yes, some of us are badly persecuted for our faith, but by and large most Christians do not experience that kind of challenge to our faith. An unchallenged faith is not strong. Untested loyalty is really no loyalty at all. It is in hard times – when the rain falls, the floods come and the winds blow – that we discover where our true loyalties lie. The storm can be a blessing if it reveals that our foundations are in fact much weaker than we assumed. Then, as long as the Lord has not returned, we have opportunities to do better, to grow stronger foundations. So that when the Lord returns, our foundations may be found to be really true!