Connect360: How to Build a Storm-Proof Life

• Lesson 2 in the Connect360 unit “Jesus Storyteller: Timeless Truths From His Parables” focuses on Luke 6:46-49.

The time to prepare for a storm is before it hits, not when you are in it. Your belief system or your personal philosophy—the rules you live by—are your foundation when the storms come.

Easy-believism is the quicksand many people try to build their lives upon. That’s one of the dangers of “religious people” who have only embraced a portion of the truth about Jesus. They want to get their ticket to heaven punched, but they really don’t want their belief to intrude on their real life. They practice a kind of easy-believism that may get them to church often and makes them feel respectable. However, they seldom ever consider, much less obey, the true words of Jesus. They have reduced Christian belief into a simple set of religious activities and language. But when the storms come, this belief system doesn’t stand.

Sadly, millions of people also build their lives on the shifting sands of our culture. What used to be considered behavior that would make a person ashamed is now behavior that will almost guarantee a book, movie or record contract! There aren’t many icons who are putting the words of Jesus into practice.

Nobody immune to life’s storms

For both the wise and the foolish builders, the storm came, and the waters rose. Nobody is immune to the storms of life. You’d better be prepared because you will face storms. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus faced storms, and he overcame them. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was under such pressure that drops of blood appeared like sweat drops on his forehead.

Bad things do happen to good people (and good things happen to bad people). God is not singling out people because they deserve storms; all of us face them at many times in life. Just expect them. Sometimes, we survive the storm, but it’s the flood and the aftermath of the storm that sink us. Most of us have a built-in “emergency mode” so when an emotional storm strikes suddenly, we react with strength in the face of the immediate threat. But when the adrenaline wears off, it’s the slow rising tide of despair that often produces our emotional collapse.

Based on a lesson by David O. Dykes, pastor emeritus of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler. To learn more about GC2 Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.