Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it! Luke 11:28
If you were brought up in the church as a child, Do you remember singing the song, “The Wise man built his house upon the rock”? This song was based on the parable from Matthew 7:24-27.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall.”
For those who don’t know the song youtube and listen to it, it has a great message. This song and scripture are talking about building our lives on a firm foundation. A wise person will obey the Word of God. He will build his life on hearing and doing the will of God. When temptations and trials come at him; he will not fall. He is secure in because of his foundation is solid in God. The foolish person, though, hears the word of God and does not act on it. When the storms of life come at him, he has no foundation to stand on and he falls. His life collapses around him.
For the Christian life, obedience is our foundation. If we do not have that our life will collapse around us. We are being foolish and not wise. We have nothing to rely on when the storms of life come at us. Jesus told us that the way to be wise is to trust Him, follow Him, obey Him. When we do this we are building on a Rock – Jesus!!! Has there been a time in your life where you have experienced a time of testing and your foundation was solid? Or was it not solid?
The only way to measure our love for God is by how we obey Him. A phrase I used as a teen and young adult was “you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk”. This meant to me was I can say anything but when it came down to it did I live my life according to God’s word. Was I being obedient to Him? The only way we can really show our love to God is to obey Him.
Read John 14:21, 23-24. What do we learn about love, and keep? What do we learn about obedience? Do you see the relationship between love and obedience? If we truly love God like we say we do, then we will seek to know and to keep his commands.
How does obeying God affect our capacity to know God and to experience His love for us? Are you ready to make this your foundation in your life?
Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray that we will make obedience to you our foundation in our lives. I pray that we will seek to know you and your word, and put it into action into our lives. I pray that our obedience will radiant our love for you.
In Jesus Name
Amen
