In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus speaks on the importance of listening to and following his teachings.
Simply put, not only being hearers of the Word, but doers as well. The scripture reads:
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (NLT)
I felt such a burden to write this particular blog because of the worry and fear that I have surrounding the End Times and the Last Days, reading the book of Revelation, the Rapture, and everything else in between. That worry and fear also comes from all the posts, stories, threads, tweets, and reels on social media that are constantly talking about the Last Days and Jesus’ return. Historically, I have always shied away from this … no scratch that … I have always heavily avoided and dodged this topic due to worry and fear. Even in writing this, I believe the Holy Spirit is revealing to me that all that worry and fear comes from a lack of truly knowing and understanding for myself. I think even in the midst of me feeling apprehensive about this particular topic, it’s actually an invitation from God to dive deeper into it so that I can be released from the worry and fear. When you don’t know something, or fully understand something, it creates uncertainty and I want to be relieved of that feeling. It’s so easy to get sucked into what everyone is saying on social media about it all and I’ve hit that point of no longer wanting to be led by that.
Immediately the referenced scripture above was brought to my mind and the question posed, “Tenia, what is your foundation?” Is your foundation built on the Word of God and what HE says about the Last Days, or is your foundation built on what people are saying, in their 30-second think pieces and hypotheses by way of reels, tweets, posts, and stories?
I have the opportunity to come into this knowledge on my own accord by way of reading the Word and asking the Holy Spirit to guide me in spirit and in truth - just like the Word says.
Hosea 4:6 (CSB) says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.”
I think it’s silly for us to reduce God’s word to a soundbite clip, allowing that to guide us or even push us instead of getting into the Word for ourselves, searching the scriptures for ourselves. So this is where I felt the invitation to do just that because I was allowing soundbites to control the narrative. I even think about when I was going to my mom’s church in high school and hearing the preacher talk about the rapture and the end times - it LITERALLY scared me! It was something I would deliberately tune out any time it was talked about during Sunday service. So, even from my youthful years, I was allowing that to drive me and not taking the time to get in the scriptures for myself, to even back what was being taught by the preacher. It’s important for every believer, for every person who says they believe in Jesus and are following him, to get into the Word for themselves. It’s important to build that foundation and framework for yourself. It’s dangerous to depend solely on others for that guidance and understanding - can they assist? Absolutely, but we have to also take the time to learn for ourselves. We have the opportunity to build that foundation of faith in Jesus for ourselves, and we’d be remiss not to take it. Taking God’s Word, especially regarding the end times and any other topic and way of living by way of soundbite, is, in my opinion, building our foundation upon sand.
I’m learning that as I intentionally take the time to spend in God’s Word and ask the Holy Spirit to give me understanding and wisdom in what I’m reading - I get JUST THAT. So, even in starting to really get into the book of Revelation, I know that if I come boldly to the throne of grace, to God, and make my requests (of understanding the scripture, wisdom, and learning what it says about His nature and character, then how can it be applied to my life) known, he will give me the help I am seeking. (Hebrews 4:16)
He will meet me where I am, and that’s all I want.
May we even learn to be vulnerable with the Lord surrounding our lack of knowledge regarding The Last Days and any other biblical principles, stories, etc. May we not be tossed easily to and fro by these soundbites, tweets, threads, stories, and reels. May we take the time to truly get to know the Lord, his heart, his nature, and his character for ourselves so that we can say with confidence that our firm foundation is indeed built on Jesus Christ, the bedrock, and him alone.
