I have enjoyed poking around a bit with a non-sequitur recently. That’s a latin term that literally means ‘does not follow.’

So you could be talking about elephants and ask how big their wings are. Or when speaking of how fast a car can go, ask which color makes for a faster car.

Uhh… that just doesn’t follow.

So here’s mine. Consider Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Great imagery. Housebuilding. Rain and storms and blowing and beating and houses that stand and fall.

But the question is, who works harder? Who do you think works harder in building their house?

If you’re not on the lookout for my non-sequitur, you might slip and say… the one who builds on the rock. I mean, he’s building on the foundation, he’s the Christian, he is building something that will last. That other guy, he’s building a shoddy piece of work that won’t even last a single storm.

And if you say that… you missed the point of Jesus’ teaching.

Because the point has nothing to do with effort. Nothing at all. There is no comparison between the two builders in that regard at all. There’s no reference to sweat, labor, effort. One might work much harder… or they both might work the same. That has absolutely nothing to do, in this teaching, with the point.

The point — and the only thing that matters — is… who you are building on. You can put forth extreme effort and not be on Jesus, and the house falls, or put forth little effort, and have the same result. There just isn’t a distinction made.

Your effort in your salvation is like speed and car color, or elephants and wings. It is a non-sequitur. Salvation is Jesus’ effort, and Jesus as the foundation. Faith’s object, not your strength.

May we guard our hearts such that we trust in Christ alone… even as we build.