Build: March 18, 2013

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY MARCH 18, 2013.

BUILD

DEFINITION:

Construct; increase and strengthen; erect; shape; to form or construct a plan.

SCRIPTURE:

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Psalm 127:1

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is the rock eternal. Isaiah 26:4

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We can remember the Sunday school song that we sang when we were kids about the man who built his house on the sand and it did not stand firm. The song went on to tell about the wise man that built his house on the rock and it stood firm in the storm.

The inspiration for this song came from the portion of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus preached to the multitudes when He was on this earth. (Matthew 7: 24-27) Jesus had just warned them, “to watch out for false prophets.” We must evaluate what people teach by the way they live their lives. False teachers exalt and glorify themselves in their teaching and diminish the significance of Jesus Christ. The truth of who they are will be seen in their walk.

Jesus proceeded to give a warning to those who profess to belong to God but have not built a relationship with Him. In this passage of scripture, He used the illustration of the wise man and the foolish man.  The wise man built his house on a foundation of rock. The foolish man built his house on a foundation of sand.

Jesus says that whoever hears His words and does them will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. The rock is Christ Jesus. Just as the house that was built on a solid foundation of rock was able to stand firm when the storms came and the winds beat against it, so will the man who builds his life on the solid foundation of Christ be able to stand through the storms of life. When the rain comes down, the pressures of this world we live in, and the floods and winds come our way the house (our lives) will not fall apart because our foundation is built on the solid rock, Christ Jesus.

He then goes on to say that anyone who hears what He says and does not put into practice what He says is likened to the foolish man who builds his house on sand. When the rain, floods and winds of life come and beat on the house it will fall. And He says: “AND GREAT WAS THE FALL.” In the NIV translation it reads, “It fell with a great crash.”

On what are you building your life? Are you building on the “things” of this world or are you building on the commandments that God gave us years ago through Moses His servant? Are you like the wise man and listening to the words of Jesus and putting them into practice and building your life on the solid foundation, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is the rock eternal?

A building is only as strong as its foundation. If the foundation is solid it will be able to stand in the midst of a storm. In order to withstand the storms of life we must have faith that is built on a strong foundation and that foundation is Jesus Christ. Faith in anyone or anything else leads to destruction. Faith in Jesus Christ leads to life that endures forever. 

In Psalms 127:1, the Psalmist warns us that unless we allow the Lord to build our house (our life) we are laboring in vain. If we leave God out our efforts will be futile because the lives we try to build will crumble and come down with a crash from the evil that corrupts us from within. No matter how hard we work to accomplish great things, only what is done for the Lord will last.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 4:35.

Do not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.

PRAYER:

Thank You Jesus that You are my rock eternal. Encourage my heart today to build my house on the precepts and commandments that You have given us in Your Word. Help me to be a doer of Your Word and not a hearer only. Help me to lead my family in the way of righteousness and that together we will build our house, our lives, on You, the rock.