Matthew 7:26 “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 the sand.”

Think of it! The Son of God, the creator of all, the second Person of the Trinity came to earth and gave us life-giving guidance. The One who really knows me and knows all the past and the future, who is the source of all wisdom gave us truth by which we can live real life. It is impossible for Jesus to be irrelevant, out of touch, unreasonable or idealistic. What He spoke was all truth, light and life!

Our typical response to Him and His teaching doesn’t make any sense apart from the fact that we have a fallen nature. We tend to love darkness rather than light. We tend to want to go our own way rather than surrender to His way.

Have you ever made a decision to make the teachings of Jesus and the rest of the Scriptures your authority in how you will live? If you make them optional, or regard them as merely nice platitudes or suggestions you will be like the man building his house on the sand. You might enjoy the view for a while but it will not last.

It seems that we all choose those things upon which we will base our lives—our authority. We may make ourselves our own authority, or a professor, or a coach, or a friend, or a writer, or what’s popular. If the principles these authorities live by don’t align with those of Jesus, we will be building our houses on sand if we follow them.

Lord, please help me master and live by the teachings of Jesus. Help me never again be swayed by anything else.

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dave@youronedegree.com

James 1:19 "Dear friends, lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger."

These are practical truths stated another way. Get the facts first by listening. That usually means listening the both sides or the key involved parties. Take the time to sort through the facts then ask God for insight. When he provides that and gives you something to say (and only then), then speak only what's needed, what will be instructive and constructive.

Often when our boss or a customer complains about something one of our people has done, we rush to conclusions and pounce on the suspected people. Many times we amplify rather than muffle the emotion and we over react. This may happen in our parenting also.

Whether leading, managing, or parenting, the degree of our influence is greatly affected by our practice of listening first. Those who listen become respected. Those who don't, join the ranks of the mediocre performers.

Lord, please teach me to listen first and to speak only that which is appropriate.

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dave@youronedegree.com

Matthew 8:21,22 “Another disciple said to him, “Lord, let me first go bury my father,” but Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.”

At first read, this is hard to take. Jesus seems too hard. In context, though, it speaks right to the heart of mankind’s problem—following Jesus is secondary or optional for most people, even most believers.

We are often easily distracted. We’re up and down, hot and cold, in our commitment to lay it all down for our Saviour. We have all kinds of reasons for not really following him and life goes by, years pass. We’ve done good things--worked hard, been busy, raised our kids, helped others, and even served in the church.

One day we wake up and realize that our life’s not been about Jesus at all, but about everything else. Many of our lives haven’t looked that much different from those who don’t believe in Christ. We have simply settled for less than He wanted for us.

Jesus died for the cause. Countless believers have willingly done the same. Most have settled. How about you and me? Will we pay the price of following Christ or not? To get out of the rut requires change—in our schedules, perhaps new friends, new disciplines, new priorities, new ways to use our free time, etc.

Lord, may I gladly pay the price to follow you more closely.

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dave@youronedegree.com

Matthew 7:5 “First take the plank out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Jesus was true holiness and purity of heart. His doctrine was perfect. His knowledge of the Father was precisely accurate and complete. He knew men’s hearts. He walked among people with wrong beliefs, wrong convictions, wrong motives and wrong lifestyles. He spoke the truth, but in love and humility and without pretense.

Fact is, all of us are failing in our Christian walk. None of us has arrived. We all are still falling short of our own standards, not to mention a Christ-like life. When we humbly admit this to ourselves and others, and when we refuse to continue to pretend that we have it together, we can finally really bless and help others. We then can come along side people and walk through the struggles of life together, because we ourselves are depending on His grace, strength, and forgiveness.

In an environment of love and humility people grow better, more quality leaders are developed, and people are shown real Christ-likeness. If we actually live this way, people are drawn to us and they may become open to truth—biblical truth, truth about themselves, true wisdom.

Let’s not waste our energies pretending to have it together. Let’s not take pride in our “right” doctrine or lifestyle. Let’s realize that it is a total miracle, totally grace, that our holy God can use us at all. Thank Him for His love, grace, forgiveness and acceptance, then ask Him to model that to those in our lives.

Lord, please help me grow in the knowledge of the truth, and help me to humbly and lovingly help others do the same.

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dave@youronedegree.com

Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.”

Many of us have become world class worriers, ignoring this central teaching of Jesus. Worrying is so easy to do because we live in a physical world and we tend to walk by sight and not by faith. All of us worry yet it robs us of peace, stability, joy, and confidence. With countless things we can worry about, how can we make worry a less dominant thing in our lives?

It’s a choice. We can worry or we can trust. He’s aware of the situation or potential harm we or our loved ones might face. He doesn’t ask us to ignore it but to seek and trust him for guidance, protection, provision, strength, etc.

The scriptures give us countless promises that the Lord is in control, knows what to do, He cares about us, has a plan for our lives that He is working, and that He is trustworthy. He will never leave us or forsake us, though sometimes it may seem that He has.

It seems that He’s given us the capacity to worry so that we’ll choose to trust Him. I often come to a point where I will say out loud (when I’m by myself), “I choose to trust you on this matter, Lord. If there’s some action You want me to take in this matter, please show me. Please help me to keep trusting you and to not take this burden back onto my shoulders.” When I do this, I often feel His pleasure, and I often feel the worry subside.

Lord, please grow me to trust you more and more, and to worry less and less.

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dave@youronedegree.com