| January 4th, 2001 - Not by the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin Everyone's heard the story of The Three Little Pigs. One built his house out of straw, the other of wood, and the smart pig built his out of brick. The wolf came along and made Ham and grits for breakfast of the first one, Fat Back Greens of the second one, but the third one was safe inside his house of brick. Jesus tells a story of similar nature here: Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock: And the rain descnded, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house; and it did not fall: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand: And when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house; it fell: And great was the fall of it! (Matthew 7: 24-27) There was a time in my life when I, having heard the words of Jesus, chose to go my own way and do my own thing. I reasoned that I would build as I saw fit. I did what I wanted. My life was built on sand and was a disaster waiting to happen. When the storms came I was not ready. I was knocked down. I fell hard. And although I got up again, I was permanently and irreversibly damaged. If not for a miracle I would still be impaired today. But God had mercy on me. And when the time was right, He saved me, healed me and has led me faithfully ever since. Every life is visited by storms at some point. Are we ready for the storm? Many live in a shell of false security. Once the shell is crushed or outgrown they are devastatedly vulnerable and live lives of wreck and ruin. Some never fully recover. One of the amazing things I learned in Survival Training was how sometimes hunters and hikers get lost in the wilderness and die by starvation. Their bodies are found with food sources all around them, but they did not have knowledge of the edible plants and roots in the environment they were in. Jesus is giving us the key to survival in this life. The Bible is the operator's handbook to those who can receive it. The Manufacturer has given us (His creation) the guidelines under which we will live long and prosperous lives. "According as His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue." (II Peter 1: 3) God has not left us to ourselves in this life. His Spirit and His word are the means by which we may survive and recover from the destructions of our self-ruled livestyles. But it is a much better thing to learn by the wisdom gained through His Spirit and His word than it is to learn by the "School of Hard Knocks". We don't have to learn the hard way. There's a much better way than ending up as the main course at the big bad wolf's BBQ. Read the Bible. Ask God to open your eyes by His Spirit and show you how it applies to your life. Don't be a foolish piggy. |