Have you ever heard that children's song that goes,
"The wise man built his house upon a rock. The wise man built his house upon a rock. The wise man built his house upon a rock, and the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up, but the house on the rock stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the sand went splat!"

So, this morning I was reading my Bible and I read the passage this song came from. It goes like this, and Jesus is talking:
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. and great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)

When I read that I started thinking how people talk about the wise man and the foolish man, and no one ever thinks they are the foolish man because we don't talk about what made the wise man wise or the foolish man foolish, what makes us wise or foolish.

It's in the response.

Both men heard Jesus' sayings, they heard the Word, but they each did something differently with what they heard. This struck me, that two people go to church and listen to the message- maybe shout amen, nod their heads, clap, and so on- they look the same. Yet something happens and one falls and the other does not- same storms of life, both in church- one can withstand the storm and the other crumbles.
What's the difference?
It's the part you don't see on Sunday morning. It's how they lived the rest of the week. The wise man took what the Word says and did it, he built his house- or his life- on the Word- Jesus- and it stood strong. The foolish man didn't do anything with the Word, and in doing nothing he built his house- his life- on sand, the unsolid foundation of this world, and when the storm came he had no strength to withstand, and fell. It says, "And great was it's fall."

So, how do we build our lives on a solid foundation? Do what the Word, or the Bible, says. Be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer only, like James says:
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (James 1:22)