This week Jesus gets to the end of his message and wraps it up with a short story. The outline is very simple. There are two builders who are constructing houses: one wise, one foolish; who build on two foundations: rock or sand; with two outcomes: stand or fall.

The first point of the story is that everyone is building a house. It’s not a question of whether you are going to build a house. The question is what kind of builder are you going to be?

Everybody is building a house because the house represents our life. The idea is that we are all constructing a life. The life we construct depends upon the choices we make.

Here is what I find remarkable. Early in the story, Jesus doesn’t emphasize the difference between the two houses. Apparently they’re built in the same location because they are hit by the same storm and outwardly the houses appear pretty much alike.

But one thing Jesus taught repeatedly is that appearances can be deceiving. It’s possible to look at someone’s life from a distance and forget things are not always as they appear. Jesus goes on to explain the similarities between the houses are only superficial. The important difference comes down to the foundation.