The scripture for today, July 24 (7/24), is Matthew 7:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
The problem we have with putting into practice the Words of God is that we sometimes read blindly. We don’t see the significance of something. We may read it over and over for years and never see its significance.
Take, for example, the story of Jesus’ birth. We sometimes see pictures of baby Jesus in a stable with the shepherds and three wise men all gathered around him. But Matthew 2:11 says by the time the wise men arrived, Jesus and his parents were living in a house. Further, the Bible does not say how many wise men there were; it just says they gave three kinds of gifts ~ gold, incense and myrrh.
How about 1st Timothy 3:2? “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” This word “overseer” is sometimes translated bishop, sometimes elder, and sometimes pastor. It’s all the same office. We might think at first glance that we believe all this. But do we glaze over the fact that he must have a wife? Hmmm….
Here’s another one. At funerals, we often quote Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” But for the Christian, there are no shadows in the valley of death. Jesus was born “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79).
Oh, so many things we over look ~ meaningful things. Let us continue to study God’s Word daily with our mind and heart open to new things we never realized before. Let us build the house of our faith “on the rock.”
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“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.”
“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ “
“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
“My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.”
“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
“He [Jesus] replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ “
“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”