Prayer
Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:64,
The earth is filled with your unfailing love, Lord;
teach me Your trustworthy decrees. Amen.
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness to the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.
Reading
Here we have the concluding statement of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”. To be His disciple is not to hear Him, understand Him and accept His wisdom as true. To be His disciple is to step out in daily obedience to Him, and thereby build our lives on the foundation of His teaching.
His parable makes the dramatic point that just as the quality and strength of a foundation will always determine the durability of a building (especially when storms come), so too we will only stand firm and secure in every storm of life if we treat His teaching as foundational to the way we live our lives.
The foolish man is a warning to all of us to avoid one of the most common pitfalls of human existence – taking the easy way out. Building on sand was so easy in the short term. I’m sure this man’s house was completed long before the wise man’s house was. He got things done and he got them done in record time. But they were not built to last, so everything came crashing down when troubles arrived.
Jesus’ narrow way is never the easy way. Being a disciple is a matter of making tough choices every day – choosing to follow Jesus in the way of peace, reconciliation, faithfulness, purity, integrity, grace, generosity, kindness, spiritual depth, self-denial, trust, humility, dependence and selfless love.
While these are often very tough options in the short term, they ensure the quality and endurance of our lives in the long term. And while it is hard work to live by Jesus’ teachings, we must never forget that He is the very One who supplies us with the wisdom and the power to do so. The Sermon on the Mount constantly drives us back into the arms of our Saviour Jesus in absolute dependence!
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn these declarations over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will not take the easy way out;
- I will put His teaching into practice;
- I will build my life on the foundation of His Word.
Lord, please deliver me from the shortsightedness and laziness that would cause me to take the easy way through life. Inspire and empower me to build my life on Your teachings in Your Word. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
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