Words are not enough!

Matthew 7:21,24-27

Jesus said to his disciples, "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." 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. 25 Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit, but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. 26" 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. 27 When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

Food for thought!

It is not enough to know. It is equally important to do and to be. The devil too knew that Jesus was the Son of God, but it did not trust nor believe in him. ("I know who you are, the Holy One of God" - Mark 1:24). Well, this example may be too extreme but the message is clear: words are not enough.

Another simple example: if your husband or wife, or son or daughter, or friend says all the time (that is, talks to you) that they love you, that you are sweet heart, darling, etc., but keeps doing (that is, works) things that hurt you. Will you believe what they say? Will you take as serious someone who says one thing and does another? The answer of course is NOT; you will not.

That is what Jesus means by these words:  "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."

There is only one way in which a man's sincerity can be proved, and that is by his practice. Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds. So often we confess God with our lips and deny him with our lives. It is not difficult to recite a creed, to say prayers, even to go to church or to Bible study meetings.

So as we go to church, go to Mass, kneel down to pray, as we read the Bible, we should remember that it is not enough; it is just the beginning. The second part is to act as the Lord has told us in the prayer, at Mass or from the Bible reading. All these things only become relevant when they are translated into action. Many of us would perfectly pass an examination in Christianity with the highest distinction, and yet fail in Christian living. Knowledge must become action; theory must become practice; theology must become life.

Not only you and me want false loves, false friends; Jesus too does not; he does not get impressed by our prayers, songs, praises, if and when we do things that hurt him. It is by doing the will of his Father in heaven that we show and prove that he is our Lord; it is not by Lord, Lord…! It is by doing the will of the Father and not of the people.

So, be careful with what you hear Jesus telling you to do or be. As Mary said to the servants at the wedding of Cana, "Do whatever Jesus tells you." (John 1:5).

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8).

You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:14).

And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. (Luke 5:5-6).

Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22).