Build on The Rock

Build on The Rock
“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 rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 
               Matthew 7:24-27.
Here Jesus gives the call for us to build our faith on the words of Jesus on the words of the Bible.
The Bible is first and foremost a book of faith it points us to God. Secondly and equally as important it is a rule book to telling us how to live with God and with our fellow man.
The Bible gives us moral values to live by.
If more people lived by them our world would be a far better place.
The bible’s highest ideal is love, the apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians saying,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 
                                                                                           1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Jesus telling us,
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                                     Matthew 22:37-40.
Sadly even in Christian circles people do not practice love as Jesus and the Bible intended.
By not doing so they turn people away from God.
Anne Frank a Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis during world war two. A girl who experienced the worst mankind could offer and who died in a concentration camp wrote these words.
“Give of yourself, give as much as you can?  And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!  If everyone were to do this and not be as mean with a kindly word, then there would be much more justice and love in the world.  Give and you shall receive, much more than you would have ever thought possible.  Give, give again and again, don’t lose courage, keep it up and go on giving!  No one has ever become poor from giving!”
I like the prayer of Martin Luther King Jr. I think it’s something all Christians should take to hart. It reads,
"We thank thee, O God, for the spiritual nature of man.
We are in nature but we live above nature.
Help us never to let anybody or
any condition pull us so low as to cause us to hate.
Give us strength to love our enemies and to do good
to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.
We thank thee for thy Church, founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more
than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee.
Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like stars and live on through all eternity.
Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace;
help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children, Black, White, Red, and Yellow will rejoice in one common bond of humanity in the kingdom
of our LORD and of our God, we pray.
Amen."
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This I believe is what Jesus meant when he said to build our house on the Rock. To build it on the firm foundation of the Love of God and his teachings. Teachings that can change the world.
Think about it.