Deception & The Temple of Luxor

A famous quote states "all a mans ways are wise...in his own eyes!" It is so true - we often believe we are doing the right thing, only to learn later (often decades later!) that we were wrong. The consequences can be large and lasting - but they can be avoided with the right perspective. An incredible illustration of this is recorded from a book I read recently.

"In the summer of 1962, a friend and I made a trip around the Mediterranean Sea that eventually brought us to Luxor, in upper Egypt. We were there to see several of the ruins, particularly the great temple of Luxor, built more than 3,000 years ago by Amenophis III. There are great columns in this temple, all about a dozen feet in diameter and reaching sixty to eighty feet into the sky. Our attention was attracted to one column near the edge of the excavations on the top of which there was a small house. We asked our guide how it got there. The old man answered that before the excavations had reached this area, there was a farmer living on the outskirts of the modern city of Luxor who had been looking for a solid foundation on which to build his house. He scratched about in the sand and eventually came upon what he believed was bedrock. He built his house there. In time, as the wind began to blow around the sides of the house and push the sand away, which it does in the desert, the farmer found that he had built his house not upon bedrock, as he had supposed, but upon a piece of hand- hewn rock. Later he realised that the rock was part of a column, and still later he discovered that it was a standing column. By this time the excavations had reached his area, the ground was taken away, and eventually his house was left standing on the top of the column where we saw it."

Imagine the realisation! No one ever would have guessed that this 'solid foundation' was anything other than bedrock that would be secure for thousands of years. But over time, with erosion, the truth was exposed, the house was not on secure ground - it was a deception.

So the question arises: "is your life on a solid foundation or is it deception?" A famous leader once told a story indicating the results of building a life on deception - when the wind and waves beat against the house on sand it crashes. But the house on solid bedrock stands true and survives. This same teacher asked his followers: "Who do you say that I am?" In the record of this question to Jesus' disciples, the answers that came back were all extraordinary - one thought He was a dead man, another thought He was a man who had been whipped up into heaven or and another thought a prophet from ages past - all supernatural answers. The people of his time were convinced he was not just human, but they were all incorrect.
But who do you say that Jesus is? Is he a myth? A historic figure? A good moral person? A teacher? Not many who are learned would try to argue that Jesus didn't exist - history is clear. But who is / was he? The differing views are astounding - and the consequences of these views are unimaginably large.

Are you willing to accept that Jesus is who He said He was?

The truth of who Jesus is truly can be a solid foundation for your whole life. He is more secure than finances, family or faith - He is the Rock of Ages - the Creator of Heaven & earth! Don't build your house on top of what you think is rock and actually turns out to be an insecure column - find & follow the one & only Jesus Christ.
For more on who Jesus is, please read your Bible or contact us.