Tag: bible

What is your life founded upon?

Matthew 7:24

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Here Jesus has just finished telling us a few parables which illustrates commandments and principles he wants us to follow. There are two components here: listening and putting to practice. It is not good enough that we listen to God’s word and then live our lives according to our wants and desires. It is not good enough to follow rules, laws, and commandments without listening to the words that come from the mouth of the living God. Both separate from each other are insufficient.

Him who listens and does not do what is asked of him has faith that is dead (James 2:14-17).

He who attempts to follow all the rules and commandments of the Bible but does not listen to God’s word is like the Pharisees.

They believed that they were the holiest of the Israelites, yet, Jesus exposed them and went as far as to call them snakes. For it is by God’s grace and through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, not solely by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Our spiritual lives must be founded on two things: faith and obedience. Together, they form the rock upon which are are to construct our lives. one without the other causes your life to be constructed upon sand and your house will quickly sink and break. Think of the two like cement mix. In order for the mix to harden to become cement, water must be added. Without it, it will remain sandy cement mix. First you have faith (cement mix) in Jesus Christ, and then you obey what he asks of you through the word and prayer (water). Together, they will harden the foundation of your life and when turbulent times come, you will be able to stay firm. Your house will not fall apart, but it will stay strong because Jesus Christ will be your foundation.

Challenge:

Listen to God’s word so that your faith may grow and obey God’s word so that your faith may harden and make you strong in the Lord.

Overlooking An Insult : Mark of Wisdom

Proverbs 12:16

“Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.”

How many times do we feel insulted a day?

I ask myself this because in today’s world, fueled by social media, we often get insulted a lot and very easily. There are some instances where being insulted is justified but when should we overlook an insult like the bible is instructing us to do in this verse? Well, I think that for the answer to that question we have to define what “prudent” means.

According to Merriam-Webster, Prudent is defined as: marked by wisdom or judiciousness.

A mark of wisdom. I recently have been asking the Lord to give me wisdom and intelligence. It is wise not be be easily insulted because if we are easily insulted, that means that we can become easily influenced. If one is easily insulted, then one will be quick to react. react and not think about what one will say or do. If we do not think before we act, then we could end up doing foolish things such as hurling insults back, attacking physically, or any other negative reaction before analyzing. An analysis of the situation is important to be able to determine what the most appropriate reaction to the ‘insult’ could be and why we are insulted. Sometimes, we are insulted because we were proven wrong and the most appropriate reaction to that is to accept that we are wrong and to learn. Not to hurl back insults or to attack the person in any way.

When we are insulted, as Christians, we must think before we act. We must be slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19). Let us not act in a manner which is foolish because we represent a wise God and I believe that if we serve a wise God, then we must be wise people. If you do not feel you are wise, do as is written in James 1:5 and ask that God give you wisdom.

Challenge:

Ask God for wisdom so that we can be a better representation of Jesus Christ to the world.