Avoiding Quicksand

Remember those old jungle shows on TV--"Jungle Jim", "Ramar of the Jungle" and "Tarzan"? I guess you would have to be pretty old to remember these shows. Those old black and white gems always provided a lot of suspense for a young boy like myself. I think the scenes that were the most suspenseful nail biters were those where the good guy fell into quicksand. These heros were always saved, but not until they had almost disappeared under the thick soupy mire. I used to worry about stepping in quicksand on our farm. There were several sinkholes so I thought maybe there might be some quicksand, and I would step in some, sink, and no one would ever know what happened to me. My cousin assured me that there was no quicksand where we lived so I stopped worrying about the possibility of meeting my demise in quicksand.

Sand is not very supportive. No one would ever build any kind of structure on sand. Builders want a strong foundation for whatever it is they are building. I quickly segue way into another form of construction in which all of us are involved. Each of us are in the continual process of building a life. We are working on a life that is not only physical, but one that is spiritual. Our hope is for a life that lasts well beyond our physical death. Jesus mentioned how to build our lives when he mentioned the man who built his house on sand. When the rains and storms came the sand was washed away, and the house was destroyed. Jesus suggested that the man should have built his house on a solid foundation like another man had done.

Obviously, Jesus taught that he was the one on whom we should build our lives. He said that he was the Rock. In fact, the Old Testament speaks of Jesus as being the Solid Rock, the Rock of our Salvation. There is a song that says, “On a Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”. It said, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness”. That’s the Gospel message. When we trust and believe in the Solid Rock we don’t have to worry about sinking downward into a life of hopelessness and despair.