Luke is my favorite Gospel. Perhaps it is because his focus on women, the poor, and the marginalized resonates. Perhaps it is because Luke is a physician. My life experience leads me to trust a physician’s memory and account of events, since I live with one. Perhaps it is because I love baseball. In baseball, it is typical to hit your highest contact hitter third. Luke is the third Gospel and has the highest rate of contact with my heart.

Anyway… When I feel off course in life/ faith, the Bible is my compass and the Gospel of Luke is my North. It helps me right the ship.

Recently, while sensing I had run myself into a few emotional icebergs, I zeroed in on Luke 6. The chapter closes with Jesus dropping a dagger of a question.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord Lord’ and not do what I tell you?”

Jesus continues to explain that such a person is like one who built a house with no foundation. When the storms crash down, so does the house. When the floods rise, it sweeps the house away. It is not connected to anything of substance, anything that is more powerful than a storm or flood.

But the one who calls him “Lord, Lord” and does do what he says is different. That person is like one who digs deep and lays the foundation of their house upon the rock. When the storm crashes down, it cannot shake the house. When the floods rise, the house stands firm because it was well built. That house’s support comes from something that is stronger than any adversity.

Confession and faith are essential components of the life of faith.  They are the building blocks. Christ is our foundation. Our obedience to Christ, our doing what he tells us to do, is how we dig deep and build those fortified walls. How we build our faith matters. What we do, our actions, are not the means of faith, but they are the fruit of faith.

Maybe you agree, maybe you disagree. I believe we can all agree we live in a fallen world where we are, at times, self-centered and short-sighted. There is a lot of noise, a lot of busyness, a lot of distractions. My challenge is to wrestle with the question Jesus asks. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I tell you?” It is a legitimate and difficult question, but a question worth taking the time to consider. A question that could make all the difference when the storms come. It is on Christ the solid rock we stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.