Titus Dilemma... A call for action

He had invested all his earnings, bonuses and financial gains into building a magnificent home for himself. One fit for kings and nobles, with all the distinctive features he had always wanted to have in his dream home. Titus's love for interior designs displayed to its best. Various ideas he had glued to his mind, from state-of-the-art buildings he had seen while travelling the world, including the great artistry displayed in St. Peters Basilica in Italy.

With all his hard work and earnings gradually unfolding his dreams into his reality, the countdown begins. In a few days, nine days to be precise, he would move into this grand reward he had built for himself - his masterpiece home. He is full of joy and ecstatic. Like a child counting down to Christmas, nine sleeps just felt too long for Titus.

On this beautiful afternoon, as he drives along the boulevard of other distinguished houses, a boulevard fit for just his status, he admires the beautiful houses of his soon to be neighbours. Everyone is so busy inspecting the finishing touches to their properties. But one neighbour catches his eye he said with a warm and inviting smile, “Hello, I’m Nathan. Are you the owner of Tit-villa?”. Titus slows down, parks his car and steps out to have a chat with Nathan. As they exchange pleasantries and comment on how far they have all come along in the building of their houses, Nathan chips in the question… “are you staying in or leaving when the floods come?” Startled, Titus pauses for one moment. “Floods? What floods?” “oh there is always ‘the flood’. It’s part of life here but this time, we’ve been asked to stay in if our foundations were certified by the district engineer, or leave immediately with all our precious belongings, if they weren’t certified.”  At that moment, nothing made sense to Titus. He didn’t hear anything else Nathan said. One fact kept pounding on his chest. “My foundation. My foundation. That lowly scruffy looking engineer. I despised him. What did he possibly know. Oh, my foundation!”

Can you imagine what happened to Titus and his dream home?

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus captures the attention of the audience in a dramatic illustration of consequences and rewards of foundations - core kingdom values and principles.  He said:

“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.” (NKJV)

Surely the rain, the floods and the wind will come. They are part of life, but Jesus wants us to ensure that our foundation is right before it’s too late.

For a little while, it appears that there were two houses standing, receiving the admiration of passersby. Perhaps beautiful to behold, and desired to be lodged in. For a little while, all looked good and similar. But when the elements came, the difference between the two structures became apparent. One stood, the other suffered a great fall, gone with the flood.

For a Christian, persecution will arise, and like every other ‘house’ on the street, time of pain will happen, we may experience losses, betrayal, rejection, lies, hurt, etc. But the end of the matter is what matters.

What becomes of us as Christians when we experience temporal discomforts? Do we fall to pressures, or do we stand? When someone offends us (because surely, offense will come - Luke 17:1), do we bow out of the race or stay rooted in our Christian faith?

Surely the rain will come. But God is calling us His children to ensure that we are rooted in His Word. That we know how to behave and how to react despite the ‘rain’. Come rain, come flood, come wind, the foundation determines the reactions.

Another certain occurrence is the return of Jesus Christ our Saviour. He will certainly come to take His children to a home specially prepared for true Christians who He finds standing on His return. A home more magnificent than Titus’. A home made and built by God himself. But the question is this, will He find us standing when He returns to take us home?

Today, if we can read these words, then we have a great opportunity to fix our foundations. We can start afresh with Jesus. When Jesus comes, what would matter is the foundation, not the beautiful dressing. The only true foundation is Jesus Christ. We can be rooted in Him by accepting Him and feeding our spirits with His true and living word. Daily and diligently, as we continue to meditate on His Word, and live by His principles, our foundation in Him will be solid, unshakeable and grounded, overcoming every rain.

The rain will come. Jesus is coming soon.

God bless you.

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*the characters used in the story (Titus and Nathan) are fictitious and do not represent the actual characters in the Bible or anyone else for that matter.