“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” – Matthew 7:26-27
Jesus was quite serious about everything He taught. We aren’t just meant to admire what He said, we’re meant to do it. Seriously. This is why His command to make disciples included teaching them to do everything He’d commanded. When we celebrate Jesus, proclaim Jesus, go to church and get charged up worshiping Jesus, but don’t actually DO what Jesus commanded us to do, we set ourselves up for disaster.
If you’re cheering for Jesus but not actually obeying Him, then He isn’t the Lord of your life. No matter how much you might “like” Jesus, if you aren’t trying to grow in your obedience to everything He said, including the hard parts about peacemaking, persecution, rooting out your temper, turning the other cheek, practicing authentic worship, letting go of your anxieties, freeing yourself from money’s dominance over your heart and mind, and so much more, then you’re in trouble! Why?
Because storms will come! Life on this earth invariably includes storms. They vary in size and duration, but everyone experiences storms. Setbacks, defeats, disasters, failures, illnesses, and griefs. If you haven’t rooted yourself in faithful obedience to Jesus, it means you’re still trying to manage and control everything yourself. You’re still operating in your strength and pursuing temporary priorities rather than living in Christ’s strength and pursuing His eternal priorities. When the storms come, you will get wiped out. Your faith may be wrecked if you believe you’re in Christ but are really rooted in yourself rather than in Him. Use times of fair weather to build a strong foundation of obedience to Christ, so that when the storm comes, your foundation will hold up and grow stronger!