Obeying Jesus

“Everyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” – Matthew 6:27 (NCV)

Do you listen to Jesus’ words? If you do, how do you know that you do? When have you not listened to Jesus? How have you been kept you from obeying? What happened? What is it like when you obey?

Back in college I knew everything… I really did, I mean I thought I really did. So when my ear started to ache I knew it would go away. After two weeks or so it didn’t go away and it started to hurt even more. Finally I thought that perhaps I was wrong about it going away and decided that it was best to go to a doctor.
Off I went to see my doctor who took one look in my ear and said, “Are you stupid?”
“Excuse me?”
“You should have see me at least two weeks ago,” he replied. “If you had waited much longer you could have permanent hearing loss.”
I was given some antibiotic drops and pills and told that I had to make sure I finished both of them. After a couple of days the pain was gone, so I figured I didn’t have to worry about finishing the pills that upset my stomach, or finishing the drops that seemed to be a waste of time…
A couple of days after my decision to ignore my doctor’s orders the pain came back. A couple of days after that I went back to the doctor. A couple of minutes after he came into the room he looked in my ear and said, “Are you stupid?”

I believed in my doctor, I just didn’t listen to him, and it got me into trouble. Having a house built on the sand would get you into trouble when the rains came down, and that is what happens when we don’t listen to Jesus, it gets us into trouble when the storms of life come up, and they will come up. To listen to Jesus and obey his words is to have a true relationship with God, which is the only way to keep standing during the storms of life. Begin to obey and when life aches we will know it won’t be permanent.

With hope and joy,
Garrett