PROTECTION WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST

I was on my way home from the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on Highway 121 when I happened to glance in the rear view mirror and was stunned at what I saw. No, it was not the flashing lights of a police car—I was not speeding. What I saw in my mirror was a cut-down golf cart about to pass me going at least 70 miles per hour! I was driving a sedate 60 miles per hour.

The golf cart sped by me and the driver was laughing and seemed to really be enjoying himself. This is the first time I have been passed on the freeway by a golf cart so let me try and describe what I saw. The cart had been modified so that it was basically a cut-down metal box, with two front seats and an engine in the back. There was no top on the box, no roll bar, no seat belts, a very small windshield, and the driver was not wearing a helmet. The ugly green box had the small wheels that you normally associate with a golf cart, not the larger size that are on off-road vehicles.

I watched the cart go by me and then take the exit ramp onto Interstate 35 and that was the last I saw of it. The “thing” that went by me was unlicensed. Why is that no surprise?

I drove on home and my mind was full of questions. Some of the questions have obvious answers and some will go unanswered because I doubt that I will ever meet the driver of the cart. Why do people consciously put themselves in situations where the chance of survival is minimal if an accident happens? Why do so many of us feel that we are immune to the really big problems of life? Why do we, when we know better, chafe at doing what we know is the right thing?

Jesus addresses this problem in His followers, in the parable of the wise and foolish builders.
“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).

Here’s the picture. There are two men in identical situations. They both are listening to the words of the Lord and they get the same set of instructions. They both strike out attempting to get to the same place of completion/fulfillment in life. They both build buildings, face the same stresses and strains of life, and yet have very dissimilar results. One of the men had his life collapse around him; everything was a loss, complete destruction! The other man went through exactly the same adversity and life struck at him just as hard, but he survived it all; his life did not collapse, and he finished just fine. This man had a level of protection that the first man did not. How could this be and how can we lay hold of this?

Let’s see what Jesus said about this. Jesus said that the survivor, before he built his building, first “dug down deep and laid the foundation on a rock.” The survivor dug through the sand and the debris and got to the bedrock. The second man decided to build without all that effort; most likely he got his shovel out, pushed the sand around, leveled the ground and removed any obvious imperfections like rocks, stumps and ugly things sticking out of the ground. He knew this was not the way to build but he did it anyway.

The survivor did not try to build his future on the sands of his past but on the Rock. The second man attempted to build his future on the sand and debris of his past life. When the storm struck, the cosmetic Christian did not survive; his quick-fix, look-good-now approach did not provide him any lasting protection; he was anchored to nothing but sand. The man who “dug down deep” and put in a foundation was buffeted and beat on by the same storm and came through it all because he was anchored to what really held him securely.

I am not talking about doctrine here. I really don’t think it matters all that much what you believe about the end times, about the gifts of the Spirit, about Calvinism or twenty-one other debatable “hot button” issues. I am talking about the foundational issue of having a solid relationship with God through His Son. I am talking about having a relationship with God that is not cosmetic but is real and vibrant because you have talked with Him today and He has talked with you. Now that’s a firm foundation and the rest is just interesting trivia. I’m saying that a solid relationship has to come first and then you can add in the trivia.

If we “dig down” and lay that foundation of a relationship with Jesus, when the heat is on and the going gets tough we will have the protection we need. Jesus guarantees it!