It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts!

Luke 6:43-49

43 Jesus said to his disciples: "You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. 44 The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. 45 It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. 46" Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? 47 These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. 48 "If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. 49 But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss."

Food for thought!

Once Benjamin Franklin said, Failing to plan is planning to fail. What he meant is what Jesus teaches us today: we need to plan ahead! And this is what the foolish builder didn't want to do. He was short-sighted. He never troubled to plan ahead and think what his chosen site would be like six months afterwards. In every decision in life there is a short view and a long view. Happy is the person who sees things, not in the light of the moment, but in the light of eternity.

When we learn that the hard way is often the best way, and that the long view is always the right view, we will found our lives upon the teaching of Jesus and no storms will ever shake them. The foolish man could not be bothered to think and dig deep into the rock. The sand was much more attractive and much less trouble. It may be easier to take our way than it is to take Jesus' way but the end is ruin; Jesus' way is the way to security here and hereafter.

An unfinished building, just as unrealized life, is always a humiliating thing. And Jesus wants to save us from such humiliation. In his book "How to Succeed", Brian Adams wrote, “Plans are guideposts to success. Success arrives by design; failure by the lack of it. Plans are the guide posts along life’s road to success; without them the road is an unsure and rocky one. Poorly devised plans will never harvest riches. Achievements can be no greater than the undertakings. If your plans are sketchy and your aims low, you can never hope to achieve high rewards."

To develop a workable plan of action, mentally visualize the things you want to accomplish. Jot them down across a sheet of paper, then list the steps necessary to accomplish your plan. When you know what you want to achieve, create a plan for getting there. Once you have a basic plan, follow through with the plan until you achieve your objectives.

Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", recommends that we “begin (planning) with the end in mind.” In other words, know what you want to achieve; what you want to be, and then move backwards to what it takes to have what you want. Whether it is a special project or a simple daily routine, begin by setting a goal that takes into account the steps needed to reach it.

And once you have set a (noble) goal, don't give up before you achieve it; be ready to sacrifice anything in order to get it. In other words, if you're not willing to pay the price, then you won't get the prize. There is no prize without a price. Behind everything we want in life, behind every achievement, there's a cost to pay; there's a struggle, a cross. Without the cross there's no salvation; without pain there is no gain. Remember, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”