Week 7 | Peace: From Distraction to Presence

Jesus closes out the Sermon on the Mount with an encouragement to wisely consider our response to what He taught:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  Matthew 7:24–27

Two houses (lives) can look the same, but the foundation can be very different, as different as sand from rock. Our responsiveness to Jesus’ words in the Sermon is a firm foundation. If we simply hear His words but do nothing with them, the storms of life will shake us and we will tumble. Two questions are worth our consideration: First, what are the words of Jesus that invite our obedience? Second, how do we build a responsiveness such that we are firmly rooted in Jesus?

A summary of Jesus’ contemplative way is found in the Lord’s Prayer. The beauty of this prayer is its simplicity, and it invites us to consider surrender, sit, and see, also recognizing the possibility of temptation or deliverance moment by moment.

We build a house on the rock of Jesus’ words as we build a life of prayer in which we intentionally engage in habits that draw us back to God’s gaze again and again. Praying the Lord’s Prayer, slowly engaging each part of the prayer grounds us in Jesus’ contemplative way. In addition, review the various contemplative practices you’ve experienced in these last weeks. What has helped you? What has supported you well as you’ve sought to abide in His gaze?

Slowly read through the following from Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Place your life before God, all of it. Offer it to Him. Linger for a few moments in God’s gaze, hearing those words He spoke over Jesus, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight.” Next, consider the phrases “Embracing what God does for you” and “ … fix your attention on God.” What might this embracing and fixing look like in your life? How will you build new patterns and habits that will keep you grounded in Jesus’ contemplative way?

In 1 Peter 2:8-12, Peter also links stumbling (think of the house built on the sand) with a failure to respond or obey. Notice his encouragement:                   

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Peter highlights our identity, our journey, and the struggle of the flesh which wars against the soul. Our identity as “son/daughter of God, the beloved, in whom He delights” mirrors the phrase “a people for His own possession.” We are on a journey. It takes time and requires alertness. Waiting and watching. In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, the flesh is anger, shame, and anxiety. If we are not intentional about our response to God’s gaze, our souls will suffer as we are carried away by the winds of the world around us. 

Sit for a few more minutes with the questions asked above. In addition:

What has helped you? What has supported you well as you’ve sought to abide in His gaze? How will you build new patterns and habits that will keep you grounded in Jesus’ contemplative way? 

Before you close in prayer, be specific with at least three things the Lord is inviting. Plan for how you will integrate these into your life.

Prayer: Lord, may I continue to build my life on the rock of what You are teaching. May I build and nurture my life in the words of Jesus. Amen.