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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Matthew 7:15-29
Since it is by their good fruits that good trees are recognised, do we not then have excellent people mentioned in v. 22? They present themselves with hands full of seemingly good works – prophecies, miracles, demons cast out – all done with the name of the Lord Jesus on their lips. "I never knew you" the Lord Jesus solemnly replies to them. "Your fruits are not those of obedience to God’s will" (v. 21).
All these teachings are not difficult to grasp. Where we are lacking, however, is not in ability to understand them, but in putting them truly into practice. That is why, at the end of His discourse, the Lord illustrates in a short parable the difference between putting into practice and merely hearing. We see two houses, similar in outward appearance. But go down into the cellar and have a look. One is founded on the rock of faith in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11); its builder has dug deep (Luke 6:48). The other house rests only on the moving and uncertain sand of human feelings. Up to the time when the test comes — the inevitable test — it is impossible to differentiate between them. Then . . . well, well! look what has happened to the second house! Wise and foolish, such are the respective names given to the two builders. What is your name?
