Riverside Community Church Blog

Luke 6:46-49 “46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

I have many words that could describe my Christian life; forgiveness, grace, trust, suffering to name a few. One word I can say that has not existed throughout much of it though is obedience. I often remember thinking to myself if it were even possible to live a life that Christ calls us to live. What would it look like to do the things He tells us to do? Don’t get me wrong, I loved the security I had in my salvation. I loved knowing that if anything happened to me, I knew where I was going. It’s just that “O” word that caused me problems. By many people’s standards today, I’ve lived what I would call a pretty “successful” life. I have a degree, I’ve had several good paying jobs, I’ve travelled, I’ve been able to acquire things I want. As wonderful as these sound, they also blinded me. Why do I need God if I’m doing pretty well on my own? God was an “in case of emergency God” for me. Don’t call me God, I’ll call you was what I thought. So how do you get the attention of someone who thinks they’re doing ok without God? You allow them to suffer and that’s exactly what happened in my life. I won’t get into too much detail but let’s just say that God got my attention. Then came the tricky part. Now that He had my attention, how does He get me to listen to what He’s saying? I remember thinking about the cost of following Jesus daily. Thinking how hard it is to follow. How hard it is to find time to pray, to read, to spend alone time with Him. In fact, now that I look back, I can relate to the experience of Moses and the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. Thankfully though, “God is a loving God and He ‘knows my heart’” is what I would say. Then I read Luke 6:46-49 and it speaks directly to me. How do you call someone Lord and not follow what they say? How can I call Him Lord and not follow what He says? I read the promise Jesus makes about having a house with a foundation built on the rock and I knew that my foundation was on sand. I can’t say it was a dramatic moment in my life that changed me but more of one in which God provoked me to obedience. I always knew I wasn’t obedient to Him, I just never did anything about it. Oftentimes small steps of obedience can lead to larger ones. One small step of obedience in reading my bible has lead me to larger ones. Ultimately, scripture is not just about reading but doing what I hear my Father telling me. In the end, disobedience is idol worship. I either worship God and His will be done or I worship myself and my will be done. But when the storms come, which they always will, I want to know that my house will stand. Why do I call you Lord? I call you Lord because I want to do what You tell me. I want the house that could not be shaken whose foundation is Christ.

Prayer: “Lord thank you for getting me out of the comfort of my disobedience. Help me to listen and follow your commands so that I am like the man who built his house on the foundation of rock. Please keep making me uncomfortable so that I can find my comfort in You and You alone.”

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