Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” (Mt 7:21,24-27)
Independence.
That is a word that “made America great”. It is a word that we all count on. It is a word that we all would like to apply to ourselves.
Independence.
It means that we are free to do what we want and to do it on our own. We do not need the help of another. We do not need the approval of another. We are the ones in charge.
Independence can lead us to total ruin.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a wise person and a foolish person. The wise person built his house on rock and the foolish on sand. We all know the outcome. The wise person’s house withstood the test of the elements. The fool’s house? Completely ruined.
We often talk about how our bodies are the temples of the Lord. Some of us build our temples on rock: the word of God and the laws of God. Some of us build ourselves up on sand: our own whims and desires, totally ignoring God.
We know the consequences to those kinds of decisions. When we ignore the Lord, when we decide that we are going to do it all on our own, when we think that we do not need help of any kind, we are destined to fall, we are destined to fail.
God does not want us to do it on our own. God wants us to rely on His love and His aid. God wants us to utilize the gifts that come our way from the Holy Spirit. God wants us to nourish ourselves on His Son.
Doing so, we will build our lives on rock and nothing, not even the powers of hell itself, will be able to shake us.
FAITH ACTION: Review your plans for today. Did you consult with the Lord before making them? Did you leave room for God in your plans? If not, rethink what you are going to do and ask God to be a part of your day.