Daily Bible Reading 8th June 2026 // Luke 6:46-49
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
The final emphasis in the passage - another characteristic of the new life - is on obedience. True faith expresses itself in obedience, and this alone authenticates faith. The parable of the wise and foolish builders underlines in a very graphic way the thrust of Jesus' words in 46 about the futility - and hypocrisy - of calling Jesus Lord without doing the things He says. Hearing without doing is compared to building a house without a proper foundation, and this is always fatal, for storms will come, undermining it and finally bringing it down. For the full force of the illustration we need to look back over the whole passage: not to commit oneself to a new lifestyle (20-26), not to love (which means to show love) in the Spirit of Christ (27-38), not to allow the word of Christ to shape and fashion true Christian character (39-45), not to obey (46) - this is to build falsely and to court disaster. And, indeed, the parable applies in a twofold way - to unbelievers, with eternal consequences of weal or woe, and also to believers who, as Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 3, may build gold, silver and precious stones, or wood, hay and stubble. If the former, they will receive their reward; if the latter, they shall suffer loss. Ah, life is earnest indeed, and we are, all of us, building in sorrow or building in joy.