The Best House?

A day or two ago I had a mental picture of this neighborhood. I hope we are not being foolish during this Advent season - carried away by the insanity of materialism. 

What Is The Best House In The Neighborhood?

Robert L. Withers

What is the best house in the neighborhood?

Is it the one with exotic cars in the driveway and garage?

Is it the one with the Olympic-size swimming pool?

Is it the one so large that it takes many maids to clean?

Or perhaps the one with professionally landscaped and maintained grounds?

Maybe it is the house with thousands of Christmas lights?

Surely it could not be that little house at the end of the road,

At the end of the subdivision.

That is the house whose owners refused to sell

when the developers came to town.

That is the house modest in size, modest in appearance.

Surely it cannot be considered as even a remote candidate

For the best house in the neighborhood.

A day however comes when the river floods and the waters

Break its banks.

The levies collapse with a terrifying rush as the storm surge

Pushes them aside.

The hurricane spawns tornadoes, and the winds carry houses away,

And as the flotsam and jetsam assault the neighborhood

Only one house will remain that day.

It is the one that was there before the developers came

The one modest in every way, the one the neighbors were

Embarrassed about, the one they wished would go away.

But it did not go away, in fact it stayed, through the floods

And the storms that day, for that modest house had something that

The others didn’t, and so it did not float away.

It had a deep foundation you see, built upon the Rock; deep down

Through the earth it was laid – a firm foundation, that is what it was –

And that House is still there today.

So my friend don’t measure your life by things, by possessions

Or by what people say, there is only One measure in life,

Only One my friend – and of Him we need not be ashamed.

A life whose foundation is Christ is a life, though modest it may be,

That has eternal treasure, and that without measure;

With Him we ever shall be.

(Luke 6:46 – 49)