Luke 6:46-47 (ESV)
[46] “Why do you call me ‘Lord,
Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? [47] Everyone who comes to me and hears my
words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
Jesus goes on to say that those
who do what he tells them is like one who builds a house on a sold foundation
of rock while those who hear but don’t do what he says is like one who builds
on sand. It is a short parable, but the imagery sticks with you. As children we
even sang songs about it
The wise man built his house upon the
rock,
the wise man built his house upon the
rock,
the wise man built his house upon the
rock,
and the rain came tumbling down.
In the song, the rain came down
and the floods came up. The house on the rock stood firm while the house on the
sand went smash. The problem is that the song never clarifies what we are actually
talking about. I came away hearing Jesus words but missing the point. He is not
here talking about salvation or how to be saved. He is talking about how you
live out your faith. I would have summarized this short paragraph as, build
your life on Christ. Of course depending on what you mean by that it could be
correct, but it is a bit vague. What does it mean to build your life on Christ?
Jesus was clearer. He said to do
what he tells us to do. Hearing his words and doing them is like building on a
rock. Hearing but not doing is like building on sand. But what is it that he
had just told his disciples to do? He had just told them to live with humility,
to love their enemies, forgive their abusers, give to beggars. He told them to
judge themselves before they think of judging others. He said that their
actions revealed their own hearts. That’s what it means to build your life on
Christ.
To be honest, I’d rather move on
from this passage. I’d rather hear about the coming Kingdom. I’d rather see
Jesus heal the hopeless. I’d rather watch him challenge the Pharisees. But that’s
when I need to realize that I am the Pharisee and Jesus is speaking to me. If I
want to build my life on the rock then I need to not only hear his words, I need
to do them rather than justify my actions.
The rain came down and the floods
came up and the house on the rock stood firm. Jesus is not promising that there
will be no rain. He is not saying that obedience will lead to a life without
floods. He is saying that the way to survive the rain and floods and remain
standing is to hear his words and do them. Let us never be satisfied with
hearing only.
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