“Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”
Matthew 7:24-27 (NRSVue)
When I used to be involved in computer programming, there was a phrase commonly uttered, "Garbage in, garbage out." This was in reference to your ability to write code - if you didn't write it correctly, the program would fail to run. However, it also referenced the kind of data you entered. If the data is faulty to begin with, the analysis from the program will be equally unreliable.
This doesn't mean that faithful people will not encounter problems. The floods and rain come but the house stands because of its foundation. If our foundation is built upon the hearing and doing, we will put ourselves in a better position to withstand trials that come our way.
One of the critiques about Sunday school classes is always talking about the faith more than living out the faith. That's one of the reasons I always advocate for Sunday school classes to get together for local mission projects where they could live out what they've learned. There's something more concrete about these object lessons that sticks with you longer as well.
Fred Craddock told a story about visiting a woman who was facing a major surgery. She was in the hospital and he came to pray with her and she was a nervous wreck. He said all of the magazines with her were basically fluff like People - no reading material that was really substantial. She didn't have any reservoir to dip down into for when she needed it that would help her. And when the waves came, she was unprepared.
As we move through Lent, I appreciate you reading through the Sermon on the Mount with me. I believe this gives us a good rock to base our foundation upon. Reading and studying are the first steps to doing. The next step is to begin to put these attitudes into practice.
Now that we know this sermon, how can we begin to live it out?
Prayer for the day: Gracious God, we hear quite a bit these days. We take in so much and we know that many things that influence and impact our behavior do so subconsciously. Help us to take stock of our actions and may we consider our own motivations more regularly. Let the words of Jesus soak into our very identities so that we may more clearly exhibit discipleship to the world. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Photo by Salem State University Archives via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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