PART 3 - THESE WORDS OF MINE
So, should we just wait and wait until something amazing happens? Not at all. The very nature of life is that it is always happening, always passing. Here is another teaching from Jesus:
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain and floods came, and the winds slammed against that house; yet it did not fall.
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain and floods came, and the winds slammed against that house; and it fell—and its collapse was great.” -Jesus
Jesus is saying that wisdom and safety are found in acting on His words, the same “word of the kingdom” as before. But this parable takes a different approach than the last one. Though planting a seed takes seconds, building a house can take years. A crop growing in a field is waiting, passively, but building a house is a very active business. Putting the truth we gain into practice (as a way to seek the God-worth-seeking) is a process, a lifelong process. And all along the way, we ourselves are being built.
Have you noticed how Jesus is not the least bit tentative about any of these spiritual claims? He simply states as fact, again and again, that God is there, that God hears and cares about the state of our hearts, that God wants to help. Jesus speaks with clearness and certainty about things none of us can directly see or know. But these extraordinary spiritual things seem as plain to Him as ordinary things, like houses and rain, are to us.
And these things really are exceedingly extraordinary, because unless Jesus is mistaken, then anyone who will not follow His words will collapse in the end. He’s saying that our response to Him will determine how our lives will go, that His words are no ordinary words—that He knows what will happen if we will not listen. Now, if my barber said such things to me, I’d be sure he was joking, and if he kept going on about how I needed to heed his words, I’d call a medical professional. But nothing about Jesus Himself, nothing in His personality, seems crazy like this. But He can’t possibly be right about Himself, can He?
At this point, you might think you know very little of what Jesus said, nothing beyond the few things already mentioned. But if the situation required it, those few words would actually be sufficient. If you were suddenly knocked out, right this minute, and whisked away, abandoned on a desert island with nothing, to live out the rest of your days alone, you already know enough to seek the God-worth-seeking. You know that God wants no hypocrisy, calls you to reach out to Him, intends to make you fruitful over time as you give your heart to Him, wants you to be wise by acting on His words, and that He will reward all such seeking. A solid spiritual house can be built from these things alone. The words of Jesus are deeper than they first appear.
So, according to Jesus, everything revolves around “these words of Mine”. Are His words empty rhetoric? Or, are these words a solid foundation, perhaps the only possible foundation, for our entire lives? One way or another, we will all make a judgment. What do we make of Jesus and His words?
“The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” -Jesus
“Truly, if anyone follows My word, he will never see death.” -Jesus
“When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” -Matthew
The storms are coming. The wise man built his house upon the Rock. I pray we do the same.