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It’s time to remember our past (Matthew 13:52) April 1, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Jeremiah 7-11

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:52
Jesus: Every scribe and teacher of the law who has become a student of the ways of the Kingdom is like the head of the household who brings some new things and some old things, both out of the storeroom.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

If you really want to learn, there are two kinds of teachers you want to avoid, those that have the “we’ve never it done it that way” attitude, and those that chase after every new idea that comes along. Both will lead you down the wrong path.

The first will hold you back and make you think progress is terrible. Only the old ways are God’s ways. There’s a problem with that kind of thinking, though. God gave us a brain to use it. He enabled us to progress. He gave us the intelligence to build cities, make machines, discover the science behind things. If He didn’t want us to discover and use that knowledge, He would have hid it from us. There is nothing wrong with progress.

I doubt if those that only want the “good old days” really do. The good old days mean hot water comes from boiling water over an open fire after you’ve hauled it to your house from the closest creek or river or pond. It means cooking over an open fire because progress means no stoves have been developed. The good old days means oil lamps haven’t even been invented and anything that is done at night is done by fire light. Do you really like the good old days? The good old days mean walking wherever you go because no cars are around, no saddles for horses, no wagons. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

No, God doesn’t intend for us to stay in the stone ages. He wants us to learn and progress. That means even progressing in what we know about Him. We should know more about Him than our ancestors did. Each generation should be able to build on its knowledge of God if we will take what our fathers knew and add to it in our own search and study of His word and infinite wisdom.

Conversely, the teacher who jumps at every new idea and throws out the old is bound for problems. You see, we have progressed to the we are today because of the knowledge of those who have gone before us. If we throw out the principles and understanding of those that made the present possible. When we forget all the principles on which our current successes are founded, we find ourselves standing on a slippery slope. We see it in our nation today.

At one time, we were a Christian nation. Kids could play outside without supervision, without parents’ fearing they would be taken, bullied, introduced to drugs or gangs. Kids left the house after breakfast and came home safe when the street lights came home. Adults looked out after each other’s kids and authority meant something. We didn’t hear about police brutality. Neither did we hear about out of control crime rates, overcrowded jails, rampant evil.

Why was America less insane that it seems to be today? I think in great part because we lived by the principles of our fathers and their fathers before them. Somehow, the last couple of generations have felt it’s okay to forget the past. It’s okay to forget what made us great. The thing that made us great was not our ingenuity or brilliant ideas, it was a combination of the our reliance on the principled life our forefathers lived coupled with those brilliant ideas. It was the importance of keeping the past and reaching out into the future.

Jesus’ message is just as true today as it was when He spoke it 2,000 years ago. When we fail to live by the principles that make us live with respect and admiration for God and each other, the foundation upon which this nation was built, we can never achieve much. We reached for the moon in the early sixties, but what have we done since? We decided we could live by our own rules and in so doing, we have almost destroyed our society today.

It’s about time we go back into the storehouse and pull out some of the old and mix it with some of the new. We’ve forgotten the old things that make the foundation strong and rich and fruitful. Unless the foundation is there, the rest just blows away in the storm. We need to find that foundation again. We don’t need to go back to the “good old days” as some would have us do. But we do need to go find those sacred principles of life, family, godliness, purity, holiness, that God’s word tells us are so important. Those things haven’t changed since the beginning of time. If we think we can stand long without them in this modern era, we are sadly mistaken.

It’s time to remember our past. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Floods and foundations (Matthew 7:24-27) February 5, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 29-33

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 7:24-27
Jesus: Those people who are listening to Me, those people who hear what I say and live according to My teachings—you are like a wise man who built his house on a rock, on a firm foundation. When storms hit, rain pounded down and waters rose, levies broke and winds beat all the walls of that house. But the house did not fall because it was built upon rock. Those of you who are listening and do not hear—you are like a fool who builds a house on sand. When a storm comes to his house, what will happen? The rain will fall, the waters will rise, the wind will blow, and his house will collapse with a great crash.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

A few weeks ago floods tore through the midwest again. The Mississippi River overflowed its banks and the same little town that routinely finds itself ravaged by those floodwaters found itself ravaged again. I sometimes wonder about the intelligence of the people that live in that little town. Year after year, the Mississippi floods when the rains hit the countrysides upstream. Rains don’t necessarily hit that town, but all through the midwest, melting snow and spring rains fill the tributaries that feed the Mississippi and invariably that little town hits the national news.

So why do the people stay there? When I hear the name of the town on the news every year, I think about Jesus’ words to the crowd on the mountainside. When a storm comes, the rain falls, the waters rise, the wind blows, and his house will collapse with a great clash. That’s what I think about as I see the houses float down the Mississippi after the floods rip them from their foundation in the spring and autumn rains. You would think people would look at the maps and quit building in the floodplain, wouldn’t you? But next year, guess what we’ll see on the news. Yep. Rescuers will be pulling someone from a rooftop or out of a tree because they built back in the same place and the Mississippi will overflow its banks and they’ll feel the power of the floodwaters as their house disappears in the torrent.

Jesus describes two kinds of people using the metaphor. The foolish are like those I just describe. We don’t understand why they keep building in the same spot just to be washed away year after year. Yet look at how many people return to their sin day after day realizing the penalty for sin is death. A payday is coming. We have the published wages clear for all to see. Evidence of the ruin sin brings to life is everywhere. Families destroyed. Relationships ruined. Self set above all else. When self reigns, the collapse is great.

Jesus tells us the opposite is true of those who listen to and live by His teachings. Their foundations are firm. They are like those who build their houses on foundations that stand up to the storm. They make good decisions on where to build in the first place. They don’t continue to build in the floodplain and when they build, they build on a solid foundation that will withstand the storms of life that come our way. Storms will come. Life happens. We all face trials that test our faith and make us wonder why God would allow things to happen the way they do.

But God isn’t to blame for the bad that happens to us. Sin entered the world and set in motion the consequences of man’s fall. Death. These events are not God’s plan, but the consequences of mankind’s doing. And so, natural consequences fall on the just and unjust. Rain falls on all of us. Storms hit all of us. Natural events happen to all of us. Evil strikes all of us. But when we follow the principles and precepts God lays out for us and honor Him as God, we build our lives on a solid foundation of trust and respect for Him and for others. We put priorities in the right place. We lean on God for the solutions to our problems and His word gives us the concepts we need to find those solutions.

We won’t be exempt form the storms of life, but we will weather them. We won’t go through life without trouble, in fact, Jesus promised we would have trouble in this world. But when we follow His teachings, we will overcome, just as He overcame. Becaue we will let Him reign in our lives. That’s His teaching. He wants to be Lord of our lives. Not just another teacher, another voice, but Lord. Director. Guide. Everything.

When our lives are built on Christ as the foundation. We can handle anything that comes along. Will it always be easy? No. Life isn’t easy. Nor is it always fair. But we can handle it because He is on our side. He doesn’t leave us to walk the journey alone. He will go with us and help us through every storm. We can anchor ourself to Him and make it through the toughest situations. Turn your life over to Him. Build on Him as the foundation of your life. You’ll be glad you did.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.