Digging in the Dirt

by Katie Harding on August 19, 2024

When my husband’s parents passed away 17 days apart, 20 years ago today, several of us worked together to clear the house of all their earthly belongings. There were items to donate, much to throw away, and some furniture we gifted to extended family members. Once it was thoroughly emptied, we hired a general contractor to inspect the structure to see what needed to be done to ready it for sale. Surprisingly, there were no settlement cracks in any corners of the rooms or the basement walls. Over 30 years, the house hadn’t shifted an inch; it was just as strong as the day it was built.

There was a reason for this my husband explained. When his father and friends dug the basement, after moving a lot of dirt, they hit limestone and couldn’t go any further. Limestone is a rock that is softer than granite, but it’s so strong you need a jack hammer to break it apart. Because his father didn’t want to incur the extra time and expense, as it was already a costly venture, they decided to stop there. Consequently, the house sat six inches higher than it should have, but it never settled and remained true to the foundation.

I thought of their home and this conversation recently when I reread Jesus’ comments about the difference of building a house upon the sand versus building it on rock. Jesus said when we build on the sand and the winds and the storms come, our house will fall. Yet, houses built on rock will remain standing, even though we experience the same storms with significant rainfall, major flooding, and strong winds. Surprisingly, we often seem to remember this part of the parable but forget the purpose behind it. Jesus told this story as part of His closing comments to His sermon on the hillside. He began with, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Matthew 7:24).

When we build on the sand, it’s like we hear the words of Jesus, but they make no longstanding difference to our days. They make sense and could improve our lives, yet we fail to put them into practice. Putting them into practice is more than modifying our behavior at any given moment so we look good or do good. Behavior modification is about surface level living, just like building on the sand. There’s no foundation to our behavior, so our actions shift depending on who we are with or how we are feeling.

Yet, when we hear these words of Jesus and they begin to transform our heart and change our behavior from the inside out, it’s like building on rock. To build on rock requires that we dig deep in the dirt to lay our foundation. It means uprooting old behaviors and planting new ones. It means removing obstacles that have hindered our growth and embracing new understandings that can change our perspective. It means adopting new practices based on love, not legalism, and it means hearing and doing because we desire obedience to Jesus first and foremost.

So where are you building your house? Jesus doesn’t say we have to build on rock, or we shouldn’t build on sand, but He does tell us the difference. When we build on rock and the storms of life come, and they will come, our house will stand because we have been willing to dig in the dirt. When built on sand, the house will fall. Digging in the dirt can be hard work and messy, but it’s necessary if we want to build on rock. So, we have to ask ourselves, "Are we willing to not only hear Jesus’ words but act on them – to put them into practice and learn to live how He lived? Are we willing to dig in the dirt?"