Hearing God's Word
Scripture Reading — Matthew 7:24-27
“Everyone who [puts] these words of mine … into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
—Matthew 7:24
In the story of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus explains that it’s not enough to hear God’s Word. We also have to put it into practice. We need to obey the Lord and seek to follow him with all our heart.
Picture the two kinds of people in the illustrations Jesus gives here. Both hear his words, but one puts them into practice and the other does not. One hears and obeys; the other hears and ignores. Both have had the same basic instruction. But while one follows the proven practice of building on a firm foundation, the other ignores that wisdom and builds a house that has no foundation at all.
Jesus is using a simple illustration that even children can understand. Among his listeners, everyone knew that only a fool would try to build a house without a foundation. A house like that would fall apart in the path of a heavy storm. But a house with a firm foundation would withstand many storms.
Similarly, Jesus was saying, we must put God’s words into practice. The only way to build a life that will last is to base it on the firm foundation of God and his Word. As the psalmist had said many years earlier, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 18:2). Can we say that?
Let’s not only hear the Word, but also obey it. In God’s strength we can!
Father, we are listening to your Word. Help us put it into practice. Shape and mold us, we pray, so that our lives may honor you and last forever. Amen.
About the author — John Kuperus
Since he was young, John Kuperus has had a passion that everyone would know Jesus. Spreading the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) is very important to him. To be better equipped for missions, John attended Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied these skills with marketplace evangelism in a business he started in Sussex, New Jersey. This calling continued to follow him, so John attended seminary and became a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, serving a church in Ontario for eight years. Currently he serves as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He witnesses Jesus changing lives as people walk out of the darkness into the light. John is married to Helen, and they have seven children.
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