“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life-to God!-is vigorous and requires total attention. “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. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. (Matthew 7:13, 14, 24 MSG)
Too often I treat God’s words as incidental, optional, or additional to my life when they should be central. Following Christ isn’t something to do in my spare time or when I get around to it. If I’m truly his, then his way of living is foundational and everything else a distraction.
Jesus’ words from the sermon on the mount take one’s complete focus and attention to peel away the surface Christianity so easy to display. My feet must be firmly planted on the Rock, the foundation Jesus provides through his words and his lifestyle. If I am swayed by the winds of life, that just says I’ve been a sorry carpenter building on something other than God’s word.
Jesus assures us the storms in life will come. The only question is whether I will weather them. That is determined by the foundation set before the storm, because anyone knows you can’t do much building in the middle of a hurricane. If I am bothered in the middle of the storm it has less to do with the storm and more to do with my preparations.
The question during the calm is what am I doing to prepare? The question during the storm is where is my foundation? If in either case I treat the words of Jesus as optional I’ve set my course for a downhill mudslide. As a builder I cannot take shortcuts. Poor construction becomes readily apparent to even the untrained eye once the rain falls and the leaks begin. My call is to take every thought captive to Christ, not just the ones I can get around to in my spare time.
Deep Questions 