Recently, Hurricane Nicole came ashore at Vero Beach, Florida. My wife and I spend our winters at our house in Vero Beach.

Fortunately, when the hurricane struck Vero Beach, we were more than 2,000 miles away, safe at our home in San Jose, California. Nevertheless, all that night we watched our weather apps anxiously, wondering how strong the Hurricane would be and exactly where its path would take it.

Amazingly, the eye of the Hurricane passed directly over our house! On my weather app, the track of the storm was shown passing about 100 yards south of our house.

Fortunately, our house was not damaged. The Hurricane was a weak Category 1 hurricane. Plus, our house was fully prepared, including with metal hurricane shutters that our neighbor pulled across all our windows and glass doors.

That got me thinking about ways that surviving the Hurricane unscathed was similar to surviving problems that befall us in life.

Most important, we need to put the words of Jesus into practice!

Jesus himself used the illustration of a fierce rain storm with high winds to explain why it is essential to put his words into practice.

To conclude his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promised:

“[E]veryone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise [person] who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25).

In contrast, Jesus warned:

“[E]veryone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish [person] who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:26-27).

Sadly, I’ve seen pictures of houses along the beach in Daytona Beach. They collapsed from the combined impacts of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ian (that hit about a month earlier).

Why?

The houses were built along the sandy beach. Erosion carried the sand away. And so, the houses in Daytona Beach “fell with a great crash”.

What were the differences that saved our house in Vero Beach and destroyed the houses in Daytona Beach?

Our house was built in a wise location. We’re seven miles from the sandy beaches along the Atlantic Ocean.

Storm surges are not a problem. Erosion of the beaches is not a problem.

Is your life located wisely?

Jesus is the only sure foundation. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder . . .. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11).

Furthermore, Paul admonished us to “build with care” on this foundation of Jesus Christ. Why? Because “fire” will reveal and test “the quality of each person’s work”. (1 Corinthians 3:10-14).

Are we building on the foundation of Jesus Christ by putting his words into practice, including his words in his Sermon on the Mount?

In our personal lives? In our families? In our churches? In our civilizations?

There is a logical progression to putting the words into practice in our personal lives first, then in our families, then in our churches, and then in our civilizations.

In our personal lives, we don’t need to persuade other people what they should do. We need only persuade ourselves. And then, express our faith through love. (Galatians 5:6).

Our families are an excellent place to express our faith through love. It feels most natural to put the virtues of the Sermon on the Mount into action in our families.

—To mourn with those who mourn.

—To comfort each other.

—To be merciful to each other.

—To make peace among each other.

—To be devoted to each other.

—To remove the planks from our own eyes rather than removing specks from other people’s eyes.

—In everything, to do for each other what we would like them to do for us.

Expressing our faith through love in our families is an excellent way to train ourselves for expressing our faith through love in our churches.

For example, the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to select overseers for churches from those who showed they possessed the wisdom to express love well in their families. (1 Timothy 3:4-5).

Expressing love in our civilizations is an even more daunting task. Often, it feels like an impossible task.

But take heart. All things are possible with God! (Matthew 19:26). Indeed, the church of Jesus Christ will overcome the gates of hell itself! (Matthew 16:18).

How?

After all, our task is daunting, in part, because we have direct contact with only a tiny percentage of those who shape the thoughts and actions of our civilizations. And so, as our family, church and civilization grow larger and larger, we must rely more and  more on expressing our love INDIRECTLY through SYSTEMS instead of expressing our love DIRECTLY through INDIVIDUALS.

What kinds of systems help us express our faith through love?

Systems of education.

Systems of free speech.

Systems of laws and customs, including governments that secure the rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

For example, it was good that the Apostle Paul convinced Philemon to set free his one slave, Onesimus.

But it took systems of laws and customs established by the Abolitionists, Abraham Lincoln, and the carnage of the Civil War to establish systems of laws and customs to set free (and keep free!) all of the slaves in the United States.

Our task is made even more daunting because, as our efforts to express our faith through love expand to our families, our churches, and our civilizations, it is inevitable that we must try to persuade more and more people and systems that disagree with us. We must overcome more and more people and systems that oppose us!

Sometimes, disagreements and opposition come from wise people of goodwill who simply disagree with us. Wise people who want to do for others what they would want done for themselves. Wise people who love the LORD our God with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength and all their mind.

Maybe we can even learn from the wisdom of these people of goodwill who disagree with us and who oppose us. With such wise people of goodwill, we must listen to understand, rather than listen to argue.

But there are also many people who intentionally do to others what they would not want done to themselves.

For there are many people who love the Power of Money, the Power of Religion, and the Power of the Kingdoms of the World with all their hearts and all their souls and all their strength and all their minds. (Matthew 7:13).

Many foolish people who want to build their lives, their families, their churches, and their civilizations the “quick-and-easy-and-cheap” way. (Matthew 7:13).

Because it’s much quicker, easier and cheaper to build on a foundation of sand than to build on a foundation of rock. (Matthew 7:13).

And so, our faithfulness and forgiveness are stretched to the breaking point when applied to entire civilizations. Wars and rumors of wars. Slavery. Grinding poverty. Climate catastrophes. All these terrible vices are found in civilizations.

Nevertheless, we must put the words of Jesus Christ into practice—in our personal lives, our families, our churches, and our civilizations.

Throughout our families, churches and civilizations, we must:

—mourn with those who mourn.

—comfort each other.

—be merciful to each other.

—make peace among each other.

—be devoted to each other, rather than to the Power of Money, the Power of Religion, or the Power of the Kingdoms of the World.

—remove the planks from our own eyes rather than removing specks from other people’s eyes.

In everything, we must do for each other what we would like them to do for us. (Matthew 7:12).

We must do our very best to follow the practices of the Good Samaritan.

He was a good neighbor—a wise neighbor—even to those who he differed with about religion, racism and nationalism. He was willing to heal all hurting people.

We must do our very best to be a good, wise neighbor—like our neighbor in Vero Beach.

As soon as we discern a hurricane approaching, we should pull the hurricane shutters across our neighbor’s windows and sliding glass doors. (Deuteronomy 22:1-3).

We should in everything do for our neighbors what we would want them to do for us.

By putting these words of Jesus into practice, we can save the houses of ourselves, our families, our churches, and our civilizations.

We can keep our lives, our families, our churches, and our civilizations from crashing with a great crash!

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

Is your life built on “rock” or “sand”?

Is your family, church and civilization built on “rock” or “sand”?

Which parts of your life, family, church, and civilization are built on “rock”?

Which parts of your life, family, church, and civilization are built on “sand”?

What “hurricanes” threaten your life, family, church, and civilization?

What can you do to save your life, family, church, and civilization from “hurricanes”?

READ MORE

For my thoughts about the need for wise systems (as well as wise individual actions), please read my blogs “Individuals and Systems, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable” and “Spilling Coffee”.

For my thoughts about putting the words of the Sermon on the Mount into action, please read my blogs “Building Houses on Rock: Mercy and Forgiveness”, “Building Houses on Rock: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”; “Building Houses on Rock: Mission Impossible?”, and “Building Houses on Sand: Specks and Planks”.

For more of my thoughts about related ideas, please read my blogs inspired by my visit to Alcatraz: “Alcatraz: Imprisoned in a Cell”, “Alcatraz: Imprisoned on an Island”, “Alcatraz: Imprisoned by the Powers of Kingdoms, Money and Religion”, “Alcatraz: Escaping to the Right Shore”, and “Alcatraz: Escaping by Using ‘Countervailing Powers’ Wisely”.