Putting things into practice that we’re told to do is really what it’s all about.
Matthew 7: 24-27 24 “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. 25 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. 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 sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Allen Iversen is famous for lamenting that reporters wanted to talk about practice. They were asking about practice when his team was struggling mightily in games and with each other. His infamous quote goes something like: “Practice, you want to talk about practice!” In this case, yes. Yes we do.
If you’ll notice, the difference between the people whose house withstands the storm and the people whose house comes crashing down is a practice. All else appears the same. They heard the same thing and yet one group put those things into practice and another did not. One group built on something sturdy whereas the other relied on the unreliable.
Now you might also say that the wise people built on rock and the foolish people built on sand so perhaps the question is one of intelligence. I don’t know if the people were wise and so they put wise things into practice or if they were really just simple people following the wise instruction they were given thereby giving them the appearance of being wise. I’d like to think it was the latter.
I’d like to think I don’t have to be wise to put things into practice; I just have to listen, truly hear and do it (apologies to Nike). I’d like to think that all I really need is an open and willing heart. One that will embrace the teachings, make them my own and then put them into action. Because when you get down to it no matter how much we hear, no matter how much we believe, no matter how much we know and even no matter how strong our faith; without action we have nothing.
We are that temporary construct that is destined under the sheer, unavoidable forces of nature to collapse, to crumble.
So yes, we want to talk about practice but what we really want to do is practice. Not perfect, not awesome, maybe not even all that great or wise, but practice. Good luck with that.
Whether the instruction comes from Jesus or from some other source, what keeps you from putting into practice what you’re told? Ever go through something where because you simply put into practice what you were supposed to do, you were successful?
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