Obedience to God

 

~~~ Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16 ~~~ Psalm 106 ~~~ Matthew 7:21-29 ~~~

 

Living most of my life along the coast,

I am very much aware of the best place to build your house.

The closer you build your house to the sandy beach

 the more likely the next hurricane will wash it away.

 

The sand washes in with the high waters and is quickly swept out to sea.

Once the sand has become unstable the greater the chance

 it will be unable to hold your foundation.

 

The opposite is also true, if you anchor your foundation firmly into rock

it will be much more stable even under the attack

of hurricane force winds.

 

If we hear the words of God and do not act according to his will

 it will be as if we have built our house on the sand. 

The first crisis life hurls at us we will be down on the dirt.

 

'Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

...And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.'

 

  

...only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 

 

 Paying Sunday lip service to God will not be enough to get you into heaven.

 You must conform yourself to the will of God.
Doing the will of God even when you mat not understand.
Doing the will of God when it is difficult;
as in the case of Hagar.
She was near the living spring waters when she heard God's message.
She fled her abusive mistress, but God's messenger sent her back.
She was pregnant with Abram's son, Ishmael.
God had given her new life...she carried it in her womb.

God blessed her with a child and heard her prayers
Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.

Hagar was blessed because she was obedient to God.
She was obedient in the face of difficult circumstances.
It is easy to do the will of God when his will and our desires coincide.
The real test of obedience comes
when we must obey even though his will is not our will.

 

God will never put us in a situation to do wrong.
Doing the will of God is right and just even when we cannot see with his eyes.

Blessings come through obedience to God's will.

Maintain the Foundation

~~~ 2 Kings24: 8-17 ~~~ Psalm 79: 1b-2, 3-5, 8-9 ~~~ Matthew 7:21-29 ~~~

Jesus has some harsh and disappointing words for his disciples.

Making yourself busy does not assure that you are doing the will of the Father.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Jesus gives me the impression that much of what people were saying they had done in his name was insincere. They were really just scam artists using the name of Jesus.

You cannot fool Jesus. He casts them away and calls them evildoers.

Jesus wants the genuine you. He wants the real you.

"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined."

In this section of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is giving a couple examples.

Would you choose to build your house on a sturdy rock foundation or one of sand?

If you have a foundation built on faith and a strong belief system it makes it much easier to get through the tough times. You really do not know for sure how strong your faith is if you never have to weather a storm. You see when your life is 'perefect' you start to take things for granted. When you take things for granted you start neglecting the care of those things.

How you handle the storms in life are a good indication of how well you have kept up with your maintenance schedule. When the storms of life come; if your foundation is on sand you are more apt to get blown away. It is much more difficult to believe God is present even in the midst of floods and winds when you foundation is weak.

Maintain your faith so that when storms are upon you there will be no doubt in your mind about doing the will of the Father. You cannot pretend to have a strong foundation when the storms of life are crashing at your door.

Pray for strength in times of plenty so that in dark times you will be at peace.

Make the time for routine maintenance.