My Daily Pause

Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount with a pair of similes comparing his words to structural foundation choices. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Since that time and most especially now, Jesus’ words are not given the credit they deserve. The value of the lives of our unborn and our aged, the strength of a family as designed by God or being recognized by the fruit we bear are no longer the focus of the world. Those with worldly influence would have us build our houses on the sand. (Matthew 7:26)

The good news is that those of us who are building on the rock, those that are trying to follow Jesus’ teachings, have the promise of the strength to withstand the world. Those who follow the worldly attitudes – the shifting sands of fun and fashion – have given themselves to be pushed around by the tides of whatever is new or what’s “cool.”

As the cliché goes, they will fall for anything because they stand for nothing.

Take an extra few minutes today and read the Sermon on the Mount straight through – even if you have already. These basic building blocks are the key to making the rest of the gospel work for us.

Daily Bible reading for June 28

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Micah 7:1-13
Matthew 7:13-29

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:3 ESV

Obeying the gospel takes a special disposition. One has to recognize that they are so spiritually destitute as to need to approach the Father for all the necessities and blessings of life. The poor in spirit are not proud or arrogant. Those who don’t recognize this within themselves will never see their spiritual poverty or the need to obey until it is too late.

Heaven belongs to those that put their faith in our Lord and not themselves.