The Importance of “Life”

There are various interpretations of how we should apply the words of Jesus in what is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.  Some believe that the words of Jesus are not to be taken literally.  The words He says are ideals but cannot be taken as a way of life.  I don’t claim to be a theologian and I’ve never played one on TV…nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night; but I think that the end of the Sermon on the Mount gives us a strong indication.  The end of the Sermon on the Mount is found at the end of Matthew chapter 7.  I won’t put those words here but the essence of the end of the sermon is, “If you hear these words of mine and do them, your life will be built on the rock.  If you hear these words and don’t do them, your life will be built on sand…and when the inevitable storms of life happen, lives built on a rock stand firm and lives built on sand fall flat.”  It appears to me that Jesus’ words in the preceding sermon are not meant for us to put them on our walls and reflect on them periodically, but rather to put them into practice each and every day.

So how we live life is extremely important.  As someone once said, “into every life a little rain must fall”.  Actually, into every life comes a roaring thunderstorm (similar to what is going on outside my house right now)  Can your life be sustained in such a storm?  Can your marriage be sustained in the storm?  These teachings of Jesus are important and we ignore them at our own peril.  How we live life is important not only for each of us individually but how we live life impacts all of those in whom we influence and impact.