Aug 04 2016 Words To Build A Life On
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life,
homeowner improvements to your standard of living.
They are foundational words, words to build a life on.”
I have a friend who collects cookbooks. Hundreds of them. She reads them. Studies them. She even tunes into the Food Network to watch the preparation process of marvelous meals that others cook. She loves food. I guess you could call her a “foodie”?
But here’s the kicker: She doesn’t use the cookbooks because she doesn’t actually cook.
I have another friend who collects bible studies. She has done dozens and dozens of them. She reads them. Studies them. She fills in all the blanks. She even owns a set of multi-colored pens and highlighters, which she uses just when she does her bible studies.
But here’s the kicker: She doesn’t actually use what she’s studied. She does not actually work God’s Word into her life.
In the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus lays out the basic instructions for how to live life as a resident of God’s Kingdom on earth. You might call it a course in Radical Character Development that cuts cross-grain and flips upside down the ways of the world. At the very end of his powerful and life-challenging sermon Jesus gives simple instruction on how to build a life that survives the “storms” of this world, and gives us two foundational materials to choose from: rock or sand. Only these two.
And here’s the kicker: No matter what you’re building on, you can be sure that at some point the rain is going to fall and that foundation is going to be tested by a storm.
“If you work these words of mine into your life, your are like a smart
carpenter who built his house on solid rock…nothing moved that house.”
“But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into
your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy
beach… and it collapsed like a house of cards.”
Your ability to survive the storms of this life is directly related to the foundation upon which you build your life. The “rock” in Matthew’s gospel represents the security and reliability of God’s Word; “sand” represents the inferiority and undependability of anything this world offers as security.
Simply put: If you’re not building on rock, then you’re building on sand.
The Bible tells us that God’s Word brings everything together and holds everything together. He speaks… and things happen (Genesis 1). He has breathed out every single Word of Scripture in complete and timeless Truth to help us live life on this planet (2 Timothy 3:16). And His words are every bit as “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and full of power today as when the Holy Spirit moved through the writers who penned them.
Know this: God is as God does. And God does as God is.
God is who He says that He is in His Word. And God always does what He says He will do in His Word. The only way to know that and experience that is to actively believe Him by actually using His Word; getting it out of your head, off the page of the workbook, and working it into the reality of your life.
What are you building your life on? The only sure foundation for this life is Jesus Christ. Only Jesus holds everything together by the power of His Word (Colossians 1:17; 2 Peter 3:5; Hebrews 1:3).
Jesus holds everything together by WHO He is and WHAT He says!
E V E R Y T H I N G !
And that includes YOU!
Sweet friend- make sure your foundation holds you during the storms of this life by daily, consistently working the Word of God into the circumstances of your everyday life. You can trust God. And you can trust that you will be held by Him…when you build your life on the foundation of His Word!
Oh, Lord, cause your Word to abide in us! It is our only hope to hold us firm through the fiercest droughts and storms of this life.
You are greatly and dearly loved by The King!
xo,
