“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

I’ve noticed a lot of stores and websites selling food and provisions for emergencies. It’s good to be prepared. Jesus gave us a prescription for disaster readiness. It doesn’t involve merely going to church; it involves following His teachings. At first glance it looks like Jesus is talking about people who are not familiar with Him or His precepts. On the contrary, Jesus is talking about people who are indeed familiar with the Bible and what it has to say: church-going Christians. It is possible to be well aware of the teachings of Jesus and even have them memorized and still get completely ruined by life’s storms. It’s the folks that not only listen but FOLLOW. What are His teachings? He distilled them down to this:  Love the Lord with all your heart and love people as much as you love yourself.

Make no mistake: storms are on the way. Jesus prescribed the only way to prepare for them:  follow His teaching.

1. Read them.

2. Pray about them.

3. Repent where you’ve missed it.

4. Believe the Good News that He has redeemed you.

5. Do exactly as He says no matter what. No one loves and cares about you more than He.

My Father,

Help me to ready myself for the storms that are headed my way. Give me an undivided heart to not just hear Jesus’s teachings but to hear Jesus’s teaching and apply them to myself, to transform the way I live so that I will be one who reflects the love of Jesus moment by moment.

In His Name, Amen.