“Everyone then who hears these
words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his
house on the rock.”
It was the year 1970 and our home was destroyed, as were many
others when hurricane Celia visited Corpus Christi on August 3. Why is this relevant, because it required
laying a foundation and hiring a builder, and one of the guys that worked for
the builder became our Bible teacher, and we used that house to invite the
teenage class we were teaching to come hear and learn from Chris? I learned during the building of the house
that Chris was a Dallas Theological graduate, and an out of work pastor who was
hungry to share and equip others to grow in their faith. Chris would often tell the group that it
would be wise to not come to the studies, unless we were planning on applying
the truths the Holy Spirit revealed from the Bible, for God would hold us
accountable.
I was a young man in my late twenty’s at that point, full of
zeal, but with little knowledge and a lot of rules, and only a small amount of truth
applied to my life. The writer is now
71, and the words of Chris are piercing, because of the many-bought lessons,
the many long and costly detours that would not have happened, if only I had
acted like Jesus tells the truth.
In spite of my lack of faith, the Father has been faithful to
me; not because of anything but His great love, and yet I carry scars because
of my unbelief. How wise you and I would
be today if we would confess when we hear the words Jesus has spoken to us in
His handbook about life on planet earth. Yet many have bought into the
foolishness of and the lust of this world.
Has not Scripture stated: “And
the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of
God abides forever.” (1John 2:17)
I was also told as a young man that a word to the wise is
sufficient, but there is a problem with the statement, not in it’s truth, but
many a hearer has a false concept of being a wise man. Jesus has said; “Everyone then who hears these
words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his
house on the rock.” In the
gospel according to Luke, we have this statement from Jesus; “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell
you?” (Luke 6:46) Jesus
goes on to state what a hearer and a doer are like: “he is
like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the
rock. And when a flood arose, the stream
broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well
built.” (Luke 6:48)
Without any doubt we in the United States of America have
been blessed with freedoms that few people have enjoyed, but it has come with a
very high cost. And yet have we used
that gift to do as we please and what is the outcome of leaving the foundation this
nation was founded on? Never in my 71
years have we had more distrust of government, never have I seen more people
living on the dole, (government unemployment payment) and many of them believe
that they are entitled, the family and the Church are under attack, and it is a
matter of time until inflation will destroy our dollar. Does it not come back to our foundation not being
founded on a rock, but on the best that the world has to offer? Now the good news, it is never too late to
repent, that means to turn around and go the other way, to confess your foolish
ways to the Lord, and ask the Lord to bring you into applied Truth.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment