On Aha! Moments

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." --Matthew 7:24-27

So, I really should have been able to figure this out a long time ago, but because this parable comes at the end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), when he uses the phrase "these words of mine," he is referring to the totality of those three chapters. Those instructions for life are to be the Christian's bedrock, the foundation which will carry us through the hardships of life. It seems so simple.

So why aren't we taught that?