I have tried a variety of weight loss programs, that had varying degrees of dieting, exercise, and accountability. the success (or failure) of a program did not change the basic elements.

Eat less. Exercise more. Be accountable.

That doesn’t mean I had success. Whenever one element was left behind, I was back where I started in a short time.

Most programs for Christian growth have similar elements:

Read the Bible. Pray. Go to church.

None of these are bad; this just isn’t a complete “program”–and many people have trouble with one or more of these basic elements.

I don’t understand what I’m reading.

I don’t know what (or how) to pray.

I don’t ‘get’ church.

So, piece by piece, the building stones of a solid Christian life are set aside, and the person wonders, “I thought life was going to be different? I don’t think this Jesus thing works.”

You see, the elements are building stones, part of the foundation–not the whole foundation, just part. And the foundation is what you establish to build a structure. Each of our lives is like a house; start with a good, complete foundation, and build on top.

Jesus, at the end of an incredible talk he gave to a bunch of people who were following him around early in his ministry, talked about wise and foolish builders:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27, NIV)

What are we supposed to do with the things we hear in church, and read in the Bible? This section in Matthew is a glimpse at the large truth: we must put what we hear into practice. In fact, this whole section–Matthew chapters 5,6, and 7–sometimes called “the greatest sermon ever preached”–is not a pie-in-the-sky message, but a call to a radical lifestyle! Take all the rules, all the commands, all the “right” ways to live–and live beyond them!

But there’s a catch. More, in Part 2.