Do

Luke 6:46 - “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? “

There seems to be an anti-doing campaign in our country. I think it started with good intentions as a reaction to elitism. In past decades, the same uber-athletes always took home the trophies, and most kids went home from their sports tournaments empty handed. Sometime in the 80s, sporting club directors organizers decided every child athlete should receive a trophy, and now as adults many of them still expect to be rewarded just for showing up.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus hammers against the spiritual elitism demonstrated by the Pharisees and Sadducees who always set the rules to ensure they and their ilk always won. Yet, Jesus does not swing the pendulum to the other extreme. It is not just enough to show up and listen. We must do what we hear.

Jesus follows the verse above with the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Note that what determines which one you are is not whether or not you show up and listen. The difference is whether or not you do what you heard. Doing is not usually easy. Jesus makes the point that wise builder “dug and dug deep and erected the foundation on the rock,” emphasizing the effort it took.

I think one of the biggest reasons there are not more Christians in the world is that those of us who call Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” fail to do what he said. Let’s change that.