During VBS the children sing a clever and catchy song. It’s about the wise man who built his house upon the rock. You know the song: “the rains came down and the floods came up.” Admit it, you are singing this in your mind right now. Go ahead and do the hand motions too, nobody will notice!
This is based on a very familiar illustration Jesus uses in Matthew 7. We know the wise man built his house upon the rock and the foolish man built his upon the sand. However, do you remember who Jesus said the wise man resembled? In verse 24 Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
This statement from our Savior follows his warning that, “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Brethren it is crucial to our salvation that we learn the commands of the scriptures and apply them in our lives.
James puts it this way, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22). James and Jesus are telling us that we are fooling ourselves if we believe we can attend services and learn Bible facts without doing what they teach. Of course we cannot do this perfectly, but we can strive to be more like Jesus every day and have our lives show our commitment to Him. Others will see our Christianity more by what we do than in what we say.
Let’s try to be like the wise man this week. Let’s build our lives on the Rock and apply His teaching in our lives.
For the elders,
Dave Benner