25 As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
You might remember the Parable of the Building on Rock and Sand. Jesus said that those who follow His teachings, such as those given during His Sermon on the Mount, will be as a man built on a rock. When the “rains, winds, and floods” come, he will not be moved.
What does this mean?
Jesus and the apostles teach us many things that provide us with understanding of who He is, what He stands for, and how He expects us to order our lives as Christians. If our lives are built upon this foundation, we will be as a strong and sturdy house that will not be beaten down and overtaken by the enemy.
The enemy is crafty. He is good at making us think that we are standing in the will of God when we are not. We have to be familiar and practiced at living a Christian life, with trust in Jesus and His mercy to forgive us when we are overcome, as well as faith and trust in Jesus to make us strong in His Spirit so that we are not so easily overrun.
When I consider problems in today’s culture, and I think about the teachings of Jesus such as His Sermon on the Mount, I see how crafty the enemy is.
For example, as Christians, we know that there are two genders. We know that the earth has a creator. We know that in the Kingdom of Heaven there is no race to be divided over.
Should we so congratulate ourselves, while despising others, because we can hold such simple truths? On one hand, we can thank God because we are not asleep as the “woke,” but many of us are no less asleep.
It does not matter how much we fight “woke” culture; if we ourselves are not living in the things of Jesus and His apostles, we are just as asleep as the others, and in some ways worse. Christians need to wake up too. Not in the worldly sense, but in Spirit.
I know many are awake in Spirit. I speak to those who are not, or who are like me and prone to drifting asleep instead of waiting and watching with Jesus properly.
If we are awake in Spirit, we will look to our own sins first. When we are overly focused on the sins of others, we can begin to think that we are better people and become full of self-righteous indignation. We then might feel justified in looking at “sinners” as somehow less than human and more worthy to be destroyed then ourselves.
We are all worthy to be destroyed. That’s why we need Jesus.
Fighting this “woke” culture has many Christians doing the same old things we have always done. Have we not learned yet? Have we not learned that the Kingdom of Heaven is not taken by force? Have we not learned that law is not the way to change hearts, and neither is bullying, hatred, or self-righteousness?
If we want to fight “woke” culture without allowing it to consume us, we need to rest our efforts—beginning with the way we live our own lives—on the foundation of Jesus and His apostles.
Otherwise, we might give into the ideas of “woke” culture or we might forget the ways of Jesus as we go about fighting this culture in foolish ways that are not aligned with the Christian way. I believe this is a type of that “hour of temptation” that will come. This is a good time to make sure we are standing in the right place.
If you’re not sure how Jesus would have you deal with the cultural issues of today or how He wants you to live your life, then seek Him.
I think we all need to seek Him because as I have said and will keep saying, our churches have done a pitiful job of preparing us. They are not our foundation. They will surely be overthrown by the flood, and many have been already. Many have gone “woke” or they have fallen asleep as drunkards who are drunk off their own self-righteousness and false sense of superiority—to name just a few.
So, I will continue to say that we as Christians need to focus on ourselves first. We need to wake up too. “Awake to righteousness and sin not.”
We cannot do this if we don’t know what righteousness really looks like, and we are going to be blind to this if we are placing Man in the place that Jesus is supposed to sit. This includes many pastors, all Christian denominations in some form, Christian seminaries, and the like. There is just too much corruption.
If we stay in the corruption and do not make Jesus first in our lives, and do not deceive ourselves into saying He is first because we listen to other men concerning Him, then we are in danger. I believe many “houses” will come down. Many churches. Many people.
The temple of God is not built with hands. We are the temple in the New Covenant, and we who stand with Jesus will not be moved.
Anything that stands where Jesus stands, “stands where he aught not.” Though I believe this will take on a more literal meaning when the false Christ comes, there are many false christs, and we begin by seeking to the false christs of our hearts. These will lead us astray, and it does not matter if Jesus is on our lips if our hearts are far from Him.
This is part of a series of articles considering the Proverbs from a Christian mindset and applying these lessons to present-day events. You can find all of the Considering Proverbs writings here. Subscribe to receive future posts by email.
Jesus Alone 