“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Matthew 7:24-27
With a few exceptions, we work with others as we progress through life. It applies to our work environment, in our families, in our extracurricular activities. Operating as a team, we apply our unique approach to accomplish tasks, realize goals, and achieve desired outcomes. We perform with differing levels of authority through different types of interactions, but at the end of the day it boils down to people working together to accomplish something. Flowing through all the intricacies of people interactions is the concept of “relationship”. What I find intriguing is assumptions made and ignorance revealed regarding our awareness of how to “manage” this concept. Relationships begin at birth, the bonding of mother with child. Quickly this interaction expands to Dad and siblings. Then we move to playmates, acquaintances, friends and beyond. Relationships are ubiquitous in daily life. Focusing on more personal interactions – the more in-depth, committal convergences – we find boyfriend, girlfriend and then the union in marriage. The joys and challenges in a marriage relationship involve finding the means of integrating two independent people into one. We have two people with life-house building projects already under construction for many years. The challenge before them is integrating the two plans into a single life-house plan. God’s desire – “the two shall become one flesh.”
The ingredients of such an intimate relationship would include communication, time commitment, sacrifice, patience, submission, humility, selflessness, and many more. The excitement of the new journey together brings great joy and pleasure, happiness, and contentment. Over time, however, experience suggests there are many factors which seek to impede our building process, bringing stress and strain to our young project. While we know the importance of compromise, our selfish tendencies seek a different outcome. We understand the importance of patience yet find ourselves frustrated that things are not going the way we would like. Sometimes what we want to do, we don’t and what we don’t want to do, that we do – in the spirit of Romans 7. These sinful tendencies create barriers to achieving the next milestone in our integrated life-house project. In the context of marriage, we discover aspects of this thing called “relationship” which we didn’t anticipate or fully understand.
Interestingly, throughout scripture God utilizes marriage to describe the relational intimacy he desires with us. What message does God want us to hear? Consider the interaction between Jesus and a Pharisee as recorded in Matthew’s gospel. One day when Jesus was teaching, one of the Pharisees – a lawyer by training – asked Jesus a question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? And He said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.’ ”
Matthew 22:36-37
The depth and intensity of the call – “all your heart, “all your soul” and “all our mind” – reflects an all-in type of relationship. Imagine a marriage built on such depth, commitment, and devotion; all unarguably necessary to truly build a beautiful, authentic life house experience. The supreme directive emanating from the Creator is an appeal to a love relationship – an agape, sacrificial love. We have an invitation to invest all our resources in the pursuit of the only true God who defines the beginning from the end. As we build our life-house, God beckons us to an “authentic walk” with Him. Why use the word “authentic”? The word carries the meaning of “genuine” or “not counterfeit”. We all have experienced casual as well as more involved relationships where one party may portray a relational attitude which is inconsistent with that which truly resonates in their heart. To be consistent with God’s call to our relationship with Him – loving with all your heart, soul, and mind – is to prioritize such relationship to the highest level. There is no room for a counterfeit relationship. God is not interested in half-heartedness. And why use the word “Walk”? The call from God is a day-by-day experience, listening for that still small voice, pursuing the right path as we journey through life building our life house. He calls us to build upon Him – the only foundation necessary for our life investment.
The relationship with God transcends this lifetime – the Infinite calls the finite to a deep, abiding relationship for eternity.
What do you think was reverberating in the lawyer’s mind as he processed Jesus’ answer? Search deep within, to the core of a person where desires and motives dwell. In context, the lawyer wanted to trick Jesus into a misstep so the religious leaders could trap Him. Others, truly desiring rescue from the oppression of the Romans by creating the anticipated neo-Davidic kingdom, were celebrating. Surely this had to be the Messiah, the King who would lead the people of Israel to victory. But there were some who desired a hope transcendent of this time-space continuum in which we exist. Jesus declared His kingdom was not of this world; one which dwells outside our finite understanding. His miraculous works served as evidence of such an existence unknown to our common experience. Through this call to a relationship with God, He is inviting us to enter His eternal kingdom.
When I was in high school, one of my favorite musical groups was Kansas. They wrote a song “Dust in the Wind”. The lyrics include the phrase “All we are is dust in the wind.” These words echo Solomon’s conclusion in Ecclesiastes where “everything is vanity – chasing after the wind”. With my own musical background, I enjoyed writing songs, one of which had the title “Wilderness Cathedral”. The chorus provides a portal into my heart at the time:
Try to hold the moment, don’t let it slip away,
But Time keeps on moving, no matter what I say,
Oh, why can’t time, stop for a while.
One of my life’s struggles has revolved around the concept of time – unable to stop it from passing, trying desperately to hold on to that which slips through my hands. I am convinced that many are consumed with “this life”, failing to grasp the reality of life’s journey as but a vapor, a flower blossom here today and gone tomorrow. As the great preacher Martin Lloyd Jones put it so bluntly,
“So you die – then what?”
Realizing the hollowness of temporary pursuits, I had an Ecclesiastes/Dust in the Wind confrontation. Emptying our souls in this life, building our life house on an uncertain foundation, and willingly looking no further than the revelation possible with our finiteness results in the absence of true hope. Jesus emerges on the scene with a very different message about a kingdom not of this world. The words of Jesus declare there are only two choices, two foundations for life-house construction. His message encourages us to choose wisely. “hear these word of Mine.” I think it would be prudent to listen to his words.
Reflection
- When you were growing up, did anyone ever explain to you what it meant to have a good relationship with others? Perhaps you could point to a role model who demonstrated such a relationship, which is in fact often the best way to teach. For many, they have to unlearn the tenets taught by a poor role model. How would you rate your understanding of what is involved with building sound relationships?
- How do you think your relationship with God is impacted by your relational understanding and experiences with those in your sphere of influence?
- If you had been the one to ask Jesus the question about the most important commandment, how would you have felt about His answer? Do you feel like you’re “All-In” for Jesus?”
- When you think about your walk with God, what comes to mind? How would you describe it to another brother or sister in Christ?
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