What Kind of Ground is Under You?

I was challenged in our bible study last night to think of the Word of God in a new light. What will I do with what I have learned? So many times I approach passages in the bible as things to remember instead of things to do. Once again I had to repent. In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus asks his disciples, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” How can I say that Jesus is Lord when I am not willing to let him have his way in every aspect of my life?

Jesus goes on to liken the kind of person who comes to him, listens to him and puts his words into practice to one who builds his house on a rock. This person isn’t shaken because they have built on a firm foundation. God wants me to obey his word so that when the storms of life blow in, I can weather them with confidence. He isn’t trying to just get me to follow some rules and regulations. There is a method to his work.

Jesus continues by comparing someone who doesn’t do what he says to a person who builds his house on the ground without a foundation. Collapse and destruction are the result.

It is so hard to change our thinking. Only daily reading of the word and help from the Holy Spirit can accomplish this feat. If I don’t know what the word says, I’m not putting it into practice and I won’t be ready for what comes my way. I will crumble.

The Word of God is not there for me to just gain fun-filled trivia facts or have “one up” on someone…on the contrary, it is there for me to live every minute, of every hour ,of every day. The Word is there for me to eat, sleep and breathe it. It should be as necessary to me as life itself.

I confess that I cannot do it on my own, but it takes the love of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit to practically implement it in my life. Paul uses the beautiful illustration of a husband loving his wife in Ephesians 5: 25-26 saying, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.”

Christ uses his word to wash us clean and change the way we think and act thereby making us holy. It is encouraging to me that Christ does this for us through his Holy Spirit, lovingly changing us from day to day. Thank God for that because without him doing this work of restoration in me; my house would be flattened! I hope that you are as challenged as I was today to put the word into practice with the Holy Spirit guiding your steps and to be a doer, not just a hearer. (James 1:22)