The Wise Man and the Foolish Man

During his time on earth, Jesus often taught people using parables (stories to teach a moral or spiritual truth). One of his parables involved two men, a wise man and a foolish man. They both decided to build a house.

The wise man built his house on a firm foundation of rock. Even when storms, floods, and winds beat against the house, it didn’t fall. But the foolish man built his house on the sand. This was not a firm foundation at all. When the rain, floods, and winds came, the house crashed down because it had a poor foundation.

What was Jesus trying to teach us through this parable? He started the story by saying “everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).

Jesus is saying that the wise man is the one who listens to Jesus’ words and obeys them. The Bible tells us that God is the source of all wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; Colossians 2:2–3) and that hearing and doing what he says is the path of wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:5–6). Foolishness is the opposite of this. A fool hates wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7) and instead chooses to disobey God. Jesus’ parable encourages us to choose to be wise and build our lives on his teachings.