Put His Words Into Practice

EVERYONE WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND PUTS THEM INTO PRACTICE IS LIKE A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON THE ROCK. Matthew 7.24.

We live in days when classes, lectures, seminars, and sermons are galore! Some you pay for while others are free. How soon the event is over! But it is of no one’s concern whether you make use of any of the knowledge received! Sadly, more often than not, the notes are chucked aside in the rush to get back to the routine of life. Whatever had gone into your mind is forgotten. All that you know is that sometime in the past you had attended some talk about something which you can now hardly recollect! Your money is gone, time is wasted and the sponsors have disappeared. You are none the wiser or better!

How different was Jesus when He taught His disciples and the people who followed Him! In simple words and stories they could relate to, Jesus taught the people the eternal truths. At the same time He was down to earth. Jesus clearly told them how to relate to the Father in heaven and to one another in love and peace. The people were amazed at His incomparable teachings.

But there was another great difference between the Jewish teachers and Jesus - He insisted that they not only hear His teachings but practise them. Do you know that even today, the Lord Jesus Christ would want you to go and do what He teaches us from the pulpit! To stress His point, Jesus told the familiar parable of the “wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand!”

Are you practicing what you hear from God’s Word each week? Sometime ago, I preached in my church of over 1,500 people. I spoke about the power of the Word of God to save and transform lives. They were challenged to begin to read and meditate on the Word daily in a disciplined manner. Later, I met in the foyer of the church an elderly friend who is also a devoted pastor, He told me, “I am going to start reading the Bible again!”

How I hope that you would be like my pastor friend! Act on what God has spoken to you. Start to practise it, even if it be only the beginning. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. Do not discount God-given messages. Do not waste the golden opportunities God gives you to be all that the He wants you to be!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to heed Your Word. Let me “not merely listen to the word, and deceive myself, but do what it says” (Ja 1.22). Amen.