The Lord’s got me thinking again and after reading Janet’s blog today I see that He has her thinking too. I too am a big fan of those questions that make you think. Unfortinately whenever I try to ask a question like that it comes across wrong, but hey I ain’t Jesus. You know, He said some pretty tough things to the religious people of his day. I keep thinking about a song by “Truth” that was sung by Russ Lee. The name of the song is Living Life Upside Down. Here are the lyrics to the chorus…
What if we fall into the bottom of a well, thinking we’ve risen to the top of a mountain?
What if we’re knocking at the gates of Hell, thinking we’re Heaven bound?
What if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves, when we should have been thinking of each other?
What if we reach up and touch the ground, to find we’re living life upside down.”
Here is one of my favorite passages of scripture – this is a strong warning from Jesus, I think, directed at the church…
This is Matthew 7:21-29 from The Message Translation
“Knowing the correct password–saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance–isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience–doing what my Father wills. I can see it now–at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’ “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit–but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying–quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.
My prayer is that I would be a part of the applauding crowd and not of the religion teachers.