The House That Fell

What is a "House"?

We all know what a house is. At least we think we do. But sometimes the word "house" has a less common meaning. For example;

"2 the people who live in a house considered as a unit; social group; esp., a family or household"- (Webster's New World College Dictionary) This is the meaning we have in mind for this hub. A family.

The Bible uses this expression often regarding the family, i.e, "...the house of David.." or some such expression. In the old English Bible the word house is used approximately 1,989 times. And most of these are simply a house, or building to live in. However, it was easy to find about 22 times in what we call the New Testament where it was used as a family or group of people. Wanting to get this hub out this year, I chose not to find out how many times it is used as a family in the entire Bible.

One more point, before we get to the point.

The learning process. We can learn in many ways. For example, from verbal information passed on to us. From books. From experience. From being shown - you know, videos which are made by people who cannot write for people who cannot read. And in this case, from observation, which by the way is one of the scientific ways of gaining knowledge.

So, in this hub "THE HOUSE THAT FELL" is a family. And, we are learning from observing what happened in that family.

Now I am not without flaw. My own house (family) has suffered much damage. That may be one of the reasons this particular case is of special interest to myself. But let's try to learn together from my observations over a good number of years.

I want to tell you about a friend. "Acquaintance" might be a more accurate word. But I have always liked the guy and we got along good together. Our ways have parted due to circumstances and I do not know where he is now. However despite what I am going to tell you about him, I would like to have him for a neighbor now. I trust the man and wish he were where we could spend time together and do things together.

We will call this man "Mike". Of course, that is not his real name. But "Mike" is a common name and this man is a common man. That's one of the things I like about him. Also he generally was a man of few words. He did not say much, but was polite and easy to talk to. That kind of person is often hard to find. Mike held a position of responsibility in a municipality not far from here. He was a hard worker providing for his family. I like that. In addition Mike often did hard dirty work as good deeds to help other people. He would not say anything about it, but the people he helped would mention it. Now I like that. That's the way God wants us to help other people. All around, Mike is a great guy.

Mike and his family attended the same church as myself for many years. They were a fine family. You could not help but like them all. One night the pastor had Mike lead the men's meeting. Boy was I shocked. Mike talked for a solid hour. I did not know Mike could talk that much. [That is not a complaint.] And as I remember, Mike spent his time talking about living a Christian life. He said a lot of good things.

But, my real shock came just before he finished. I realized that literally every thing he said and told us was - what his father had taught him. Not one time did he say anything about something he had read or learned for himself from the Bible. That meant that he had a second hand faith. I am not saying that Mike was not a Christian. But he had no roots, no grounding or foundation of his own. Mike was not anchored in a faith of his own. And when times get tough that will not carry you through.

This would remind you of what Christ said at the end of what we call "the sermon on the mount":

"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 build 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 NKJV)

How did Mike's house hold up?

How did Mike's house hold up with a second hand faith?

Mike's wife left him. Mike was caught in a matter of integrity at work and was sent to jail. One of mike's children had their marriage crumble. And the other child's career shuttled.

I spent more than a quarter of a century as a professional automobile technician. You would be surprised at how many customers came to us with questions about their car, and all the time the answer to their question was in the glove box - in the "Owner's manual".

You have to read the book - whether for answers to life or you car.

I remember the man who had something done on his car where the technician worked under the dash. When it was finished the man accused the technician of breaking his steering wheel. The man had been driving his car for years, but did not know that it had a "tilt steering wheel". He should have read the book.

Christ himself said,

"It is written, 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4 NKJV)

READ THE BOOK. You are missing some good feature.

We need to be in the Word of God (the Bible) feeding on it daily. What our parents, friends or even some preacher teaches us is simply not enough. Get into it for your self. Digest it for yourself.