Devotion: Saving My House from Destruction

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"But the one who hears my words and does not obey is like a man who built his house on ground without foundation. When the floods came, the house quickly fell and was completely destroyed." Luke 6:49









My life is busy, and this morning as I was flipping through my prayer journal, I realized that my busy life was getting in the way of my spiritual life. Each Monday I am committed. Bible study? Check. Prayer journal? Check. But when it came to Tuesday through Sunday, my prayer journal entries were spotty. Yesterday I was thinking about how long it had been since I did a blog post. For someone who tends to post two or three times a week, I was really lacking. My policy with doing a devotional blog post is to not push it. If I don't hear God's message to me, then I don't try and share something with you. Otherwise it's just forced. Then I started thinking of why I hadn't heard God speak to my heart lately, and it all goes back to my life being busy. I was so wrapped up with my own life to stop and let God wash me with His love and wisdom.

Remember me telling you that when God speaks to me, he does it in two or three different ways? Well, He did it again this week. My daughter learned last week in Sunday School the story of the two men who built their houses, one on stone and one on sand. She has been humming that song, "The wise man built his house upon the rock..." all week. And THEN, this morning's devotion in Luke that I'm doing through Good Morning Girls was about the story of the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. I really looked at this story hard. For years I have read this story; I have sang that same song. But what hit me the most was the phrase "house". I have always looked at this scripture as talking about my spiritual life as being the house. If I don't place all my trust and build my life on the Rock that is Jesus, then it will all crumble when times get tough. This morning, though, the word "house" struck a new meaning to me, my family.

My husband and I are constantly trying new tactics to teach our children about God in hopes they will come to love Him and desire to be in His Word all the time. We have tried to lead by example, by having our own devotional time each day. We have tried getting them to journal. We have had them listen and discuss lessons they learned through listening to devotions from Keys for Kids, Focus on the Family, and a kid's devotional app I found on my phone. We print out kid-friendly sermon notes {see here, here, and here for examples} for our kids to use during church, and we discuss what they learned during Sunday School and Church each Sunday.

All of that means nothing, though, if our hearts aren't in the right place. God is all about the condition of the heart. Look at King David. Acts 13:22 says, "After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.'" If my husband and I are encouraging our kids to have a relationship with the Lord because "it's the thing to do", then our hearts, and their hearts, will never be in the right place. If we are doing it because, well, we live in the Bible Belt, and if you don't go to church, something is wrong with you, then our kids will never value developing a relationship with their Creator. If we make them keep a prayer journal and sermon notes because it's something that Christians are supposed to do, then they will put their faith in Christian checklists instead of putting their faith in God. GOD must put that desire to love and serve Him in their hearts. We can't force that desire upon them.

BUT

As long as we continue to teach our children these things, prayer, devotions, journaling, taking notes during a sermon, and as long as our intentions are about developing a relationship with God, then a firm foundation has been established. The story of the Wise and Foolish man makes it clear. Floods will come. We will experience difficulty. But if we base our lives, our hopes, our fears, our desires, our struggles in God, then we can weather the storm. We can stand strong while things are tough. And we will come out on the other side standing strong.

And that's what we want to pass on to our children. And that's what I want to pass on to you. And that is what God wanted to remind me this week.

May your foundation be firm and you, too, save your house from destruction.