Devotional 5-30-08

A “New” Spiritual Principle
Matthew 7: 21 – 29

I am on somewhat of a rant lately. I see it even in this devotional. Jesus is telling us to build our house on a rock and not the sand. The story of "Three Pigs" tells us to build our house out of bricks and not sticks or straw. We seem to not be following the advice of either lately. We invest in the short term and not the long term. We go for the short gain and not the long gain. We look for the easy way out of difficulty and not the complete way out. We live in an indulgent society and we participate in it. We want church growth, missional opportunities, and vibrant worship services to meet everyone’s needs. We do not want to volunteer our time and energy to make it happen. We want a clean city, paved streets, and a new infrastructure, without paying for it. We want our federal government to take care of the poor, the homele ss, those without healthcare but without increasing taxes. We want to make more money but we want the prices of all goods and services to decrease. We want our Hummers, Ford Excursion, Toyota Sequoia to get 50 miles to the gallon and believe the car manufactures could/should deliver that mileage. We want a safety net of social security but we do not want our social security taxes to increase nor to do we want to extend the level of income which is assessed over $100,000.00. Like a child we want what we want when we want it. We are a society of instant gratification. Delayed gratification is not only a powerful psychological tool we need to learn but it is a spiritual principle as well.

It is more difficult to build a house upon the rock. It takes time to drive in the stakes that will hold the walls up. It is hard to smooth out and flatten the ground. It is much easier to build a house on the sand. The stakes go in easily and the ground is smoothed with nothing more than a stroke of a brush or broom. If you build your house on the sand you will have more time to play but it will fail you in the storm. If you build your house on the rocks you will have less time for play but when the storms come you will survive.

We need to delay our need for instant gratification and build our spiritual house upon the rock of our Lord and Savior. Jesus knew and understood what it meant to go the distance. He also understood that when we practice the art and spiritual principle of delayed gratification, we would find ourselves at odds with our world. We are so co-opted by our culture that we find it difficult to build upon the rock. That is the rock of prayer, meditation, reflection, and inspiration. They will last a long time and wear well.

Rev. David Johnson