Daily Reading and Devotional from the Gospels
Luke 6:46–49
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
I called my mom’s mom Dot. I think she chose that name for herself because she wanted to be a grandmother but not sound old doing it. When I was in elementary school I told another child that my Dot was better than his Dot. His reply, “what is a dot?” A Dot is stylish, at least mine was. She dressed exceptionally well, better than any other Dot I know. Her style didn’t just extend to clothes, she could decorate a room like like she had gone to school for it. My Dot could cook, boy howdy could she ever cook! If I were not a Baptist preacher I would place a wager that my Dot could cook better than your Dot and I am pretty sure I would win. My Dot was smart, too smart for me to trick her. One day after watching some cartoons I decided to pull one over on old Dot. I took a piece of paper and wrote the words, “I will pay my grandson Jason $20” and then drew a line at the bottom of the page with the words “signed by”. I then took another sheet of paper that was cut shorter and wrote the words, “I love my grandson Jason” and then arranged the paper so that two pages appeared to be one. In my mind the plan was flawless, she would read “I love my grandson Jason, signed by” and she would be morally obligated to sign, never realizing that she had actually signed a different page. All I had to do was conceal the full page underneath and the true contract. Clever huh? Do you know what happened? She refused to sign until she saw the contents of the other page. Dot caught me in my deception and gave me one mean guilt trip.
So, what does that have to do with today’s reading?
Is Jesus Lord of your life?
What that looks like is putting your name on the dotted line without knowing the details written on the page you can’t see. Calling him Lord means that you agree to sign a blank paper and let him add the details after your name is already there. Jesus asked, “why call me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?” In other words, Jesus is only Lord when he is in charge and his commands are followed without exception. The good news, with him in charge you are building a life on a firm foundation. If you have him as your savior, hear and head his instructions found in the Bible, the storms can be withstood. So, sign. Sign the contract unconditionally. Put your name on the dotted line and let him add the details later. Trust that his ways are wiser than yours and whatever he writes above the line you have signed is best.