Discipleship - Being Church

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 1 Corinthians 3:16 

A little boy said, “Dad, did Grandpa make you go to Sunday school when you were my age?”

His father said, “He sure did. We went every Sunday.”

The boy said sadly, “Well, I bet it won’t do me any good either.”

It is not enough to just go to church. We must apply the Bible to our everyday lives.

Listening challenges us as we are asked to give the attention to another. Hearing the message invites a response, an inner change, not just an outer one. Putting God’s word into practice provides a solid foundation in life that can stand against any challenge. Failure to do that leads to short-term decisions the results of which crumble easily.

This is our life; listening to the word of God and doing it. We are building up the Church, the Body of Christ, founded on the rock of Peter.

Only one who does the will of my Father” - what is that will? That we are filled with the spirit of the Kingdom and work to make this a reality in our world which involves constant outreach beyond ourselves. We have to go to God by finding him present in the world around us and helping others to be aware of that loving presence also. We will not do that by piously calling on God’s name while ignoring the needs of our brothers and sisters. To do that is to build our house on sand.

I can ask myself – how does my relationship with the Lord influence my decisions and ask for the Lord’s help with it? I am invited to listen to the Lord and the different ways the Lord speaks to me. The message is – speak, Lord your servant is listening, not listen Lord, your servant is speaking. I pray for the freedom to listen and to respond as the Lord desires.

The “houses” in this narrative are people’s lives. Nobody else can build our life for us. It is we who must choose what kind of foundations we will use – the shifting sands or the solid rock. If the houses represent our lives, then the Bible makes clear what the rock is: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress”.

Lord, grant that I may build my life securely on your unchanging, immutable Word, that no storm can shake, no floods overwhelm, no vicissitudes destroy.