The Wise and the Foolish Builders
Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. (Luke 6:46-49)
In the above verses, Jesus talks about two groups of people,
1) Who hears his words and puts them into practice 2) Who hears his words and doesn’t put them into practice. Let’s see what category we are in.
We all face problems in our lives daily. These problems we face can be fear about the future, anger, pride, marital issues, children issues, work related issues, relationship issues, sickness, poverty, etc. We struggle to handle these problems and many times we don’t know what to do. Often we feel like we are in the middle of the storm, flooding everywhere around us. In the middle of the storm, do we look into the worldly ways or the Word of God for solutions? We have been hearing and reading His words, do we put his words into practice especially when we are in a difficult situation?
Let’s analyze this with a real life situation. Let’s say an in-law or a colleague of yours is treating you unfairly, giving you a hard time everyday. You fight back, try everything to prove your place, and to prove your view. You do this with the understanding and the solutions the world taught you. But things get worse and You lose your peace of mind. During this process, if you notice your fleshly nature (as in Galatians 5:19-21 ) would have exploded. Although we heard and read His words, we didn’t live by it. The flood came, only our fleshly nature increased and we didn’t glorify our Father in heaven.
We’ll take a look at the Word of God to find out what God’s solution is to solve this problem. If you go above a few verses in the same chapter, His word says “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:26-27). As the children of God, our Father tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us. The only way we demonstrate our love to our Father is by following His commandments. Although following/practicing these commands can be difficult at first, when we do, we increase in the fruit of the Spirit. As we please our Father by living out his commandments, he fills our hearts and minds with the peace of God, which transcends all understanding (Philiipians 4:7)
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
A flood came in the form of a relationship issue in your life, instead of dealing with the problem as the world does, you chose to find a solution in His Words. The reward for your action is increased intimacy with God. You stood like a house built on a rock, with no damage to you. That’s not it, the rewards for our actions will keep coming. Hence we loved, blessed and prayed for the one who hated us, the God of restoration will restore your relationship with your in-law, colleague.
When we are rooted in Jesus , we get all the necessary nutrients from Him to bear fruits. We don’t need to look for any resources in the world, because everything we need comes from Jesus. Life can be so easy when we walk in his ways. I am not saying our life will always be happy and with no issues. We’ll face problems in our lives but with His Words in our hearts, we are filled with the Holy Spirit’s fruit all the time. Regardless of our situation, we can be happy, satisfied, and at peace with Him.
Sol. Edwitta