"Whoever hears these saying of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)
Today's blog comes from "A Life God Rewards" by Bruce Wilkinson.
"Not far from where I used to live in Oregon is an island that hides a secret - a town that fell into the sea.
"The island is all that remains of a peninsula that looked like prime real estate in the early part of the 20th Century. Developers laid out the streets for a town and named it Bayocean. Families built homes. A three-story hotel went up on the top of a bluff 140 feet above the ocean. Picnickers from Portland crowded the beaches.
"But the town was built on sand, and winter storms started taking their toll. One house at a time, Bayocean tumbled into he waves. By 1952, the town - including the hotel, the bluff, and most of the peninsula - had washed away.
"Stories like this one leave us with a hollow feeling, don't they? All that effort for nothing. All those hopes vanishing without a trace.
"...How do you build a "house" that will survive? Jesus put it in very direct terms. The person whose house rests on rock is "whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them."
...Amazing isn't it? God's blueprint for a life that endures is simple enough for anyone to understand: Listen to the truth and do it.
"Today, I invite you to do a building inspection of your life. Ask yourself, What did Jesus tell His followers to do? What comes to mind?
"I'll get you started:
Give...
Forgive...
Resist temptation...
Turn the other cheek...
Deny yourself...
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself...
Go and preach the gospel...
"...How wonderful that you and I don't have to guess what it will take to please God with the building of your life! Today we have the teachings of Jesus, and of the whole Bible, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And today we have many more opportunities to obey - and impact eternity.
"Within sight of the deserted sand of Bayocean stands a small lighthouse. It's been there through fog, sleet, wind, and darkness for a hundred years, shining a beacon out to sea. Why has the lighthouse endured when the town didn't? Because the lighthouse was build two hundred feet above the waves...and its foundation rests on solid rock."
*Day 12 of the devotional. (pp. 35-67)*
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