Weekday Devotionals
At The Movies - Bridge of Spies - Week 1 Devo written by Pastor Eric
Verse: Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT) - “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Thought: As close as Brenda and I live to the beach it never ceases to shock me how little we actually go. When I was a kid my family vacationed from Tennessee and eventually Texas right here to the Daytona Beach area. Every day I would play in the sand and head straight into each wave that dared take me on. It held moments for me I still call some of my favorite childhood memories.
Then I got older. Evidently with age came a heightened sense of how many crevices of the body sand can get into and cause problems. The car gets sandy, my clothes sandy, the beach gear sandy and of course our son Caedmon comes home with half the beach in his shoes and trunks. The sensation of sinking my toes in the tide kissed shores of the ocean are now a constant reminder to the 30 minutes of cleanup and another week of finding sand in various places no other inanimate object could ever get into.
Reflecting on Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount I start to think about His comparison of building on sand as a foundation for our lives. Not only is there a lack of any stability in sand but just 5 minutes of standing in it and you are sinking with the grains of sand latching onto every part of you to the point where you will be trying to shake it off, dust it off, wash it off for an extended period of time after.
The sand here is a comparison to living your life based on the standards and guidelines this world offers. You may start out thinking it is fun and even have good memories of it for a season. But at some point we must realize the instability of sand and the crushing outcome of building our lives upon it. Yes, the choice to building our lives on the Rock, which is Jesus Christ, WILL come at a cost, and WILL lead to days where we feel misunderstood, all alone, broken and an outcast, YET our reward for doing so and promise of victory is found in the verse: "Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock."
Sin can be enticing and it may appear those who indulge in building a life on the pleasures of this world are having the times of their lives, but just as with sand, the sin is seeping into every crevice of their souls and a true feeling of being lost, fearful and hopeless is all that remains when the storms come and their lives crumble to pieces as a sandcastle does when that little bully kid comes up and kicks it down after seemingly hours of your family building it up.
Application: Living upon the rock will come with a cost but the result is a life standing firm in Christ when the floodwaters rise and the storms rage. Only you can determine where you are in your journey with Jesus. The foundation of Jesus is a relationship not a list of do's and don'ts or regulations and policies to memorize. It is a daily, intimate walk with your Lord and Savior, in which you yield your will and your plans to Him and trust He is at work in and through each event in your life. Today, spend some time with your Father in Heaven. Make it a determination that the days of building on the sand of the world are in the past and your focus now is knowing and pursuing Jesus come what may.
A great leader of the Old Testament, Moses, made this decision. In the Heroes of the Faith Chapter in Hebrews 11:24-26 (NLT) it says of him:
"It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward."
You may enjoy the beach, and playing in the sand it offers is a great family fun day, but when it comes to your life build it upon the rock of Christ Jesus instead of the sinking sand this world offers, and you will be able to stand in Him regardless of what storms come.
In Him you will be a standing man/standing woman!
- Pastor Eric
Verse: Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT) - “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Thought: As close as Brenda and I live to the beach it never ceases to shock me how little we actually go. When I was a kid my family vacationed from Tennessee and eventually Texas right here to the Daytona Beach area. Every day I would play in the sand and head straight into each wave that dared take me on. It held moments for me I still call some of my favorite childhood memories.
Then I got older. Evidently with age came a heightened sense of how many crevices of the body sand can get into and cause problems. The car gets sandy, my clothes sandy, the beach gear sandy and of course our son Caedmon comes home with half the beach in his shoes and trunks. The sensation of sinking my toes in the tide kissed shores of the ocean are now a constant reminder to the 30 minutes of cleanup and another week of finding sand in various places no other inanimate object could ever get into.
Reflecting on Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount I start to think about His comparison of building on sand as a foundation for our lives. Not only is there a lack of any stability in sand but just 5 minutes of standing in it and you are sinking with the grains of sand latching onto every part of you to the point where you will be trying to shake it off, dust it off, wash it off for an extended period of time after.
The sand here is a comparison to living your life based on the standards and guidelines this world offers. You may start out thinking it is fun and even have good memories of it for a season. But at some point we must realize the instability of sand and the crushing outcome of building our lives upon it. Yes, the choice to building our lives on the Rock, which is Jesus Christ, WILL come at a cost, and WILL lead to days where we feel misunderstood, all alone, broken and an outcast, YET our reward for doing so and promise of victory is found in the verse: "Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock."
Sin can be enticing and it may appear those who indulge in building a life on the pleasures of this world are having the times of their lives, but just as with sand, the sin is seeping into every crevice of their souls and a true feeling of being lost, fearful and hopeless is all that remains when the storms come and their lives crumble to pieces as a sandcastle does when that little bully kid comes up and kicks it down after seemingly hours of your family building it up.
Application: Living upon the rock will come with a cost but the result is a life standing firm in Christ when the floodwaters rise and the storms rage. Only you can determine where you are in your journey with Jesus. The foundation of Jesus is a relationship not a list of do's and don'ts or regulations and policies to memorize. It is a daily, intimate walk with your Lord and Savior, in which you yield your will and your plans to Him and trust He is at work in and through each event in your life. Today, spend some time with your Father in Heaven. Make it a determination that the days of building on the sand of the world are in the past and your focus now is knowing and pursuing Jesus come what may.
A great leader of the Old Testament, Moses, made this decision. In the Heroes of the Faith Chapter in Hebrews 11:24-26 (NLT) it says of him:
"It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward."
You may enjoy the beach, and playing in the sand it offers is a great family fun day, but when it comes to your life build it upon the rock of Christ Jesus instead of the sinking sand this world offers, and you will be able to stand in Him regardless of what storms come.
In Him you will be a standing man/standing woman!
- Pastor Eric
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