Jesus said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice (Luke. 8:21).
My band director, like most music teachers, impressed on his students the need for frequency and intensity in the practice of practice. We were taught, “You will perform what you practice”. It doesn’t matter the difficulty or the brevity of the music, if you practice it right, you will perform it right.
So when people think that the teaching of Jesus is but an unattainable ideal and a purity beyond us, they have forgotten this mantra that works well in whatever we set our hearts to accomplish.
In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasts what the people “have heard the ancients where told” with what God had said by stating “And I say to you.” Of course, He declared Himself the best of all interpreters because He was its Author too but He realigned the truth from the mangle of human tradition and religious rhetoric to show them, and us, what we can be.
To see the Sermon as only an ideal of what should be instead of what we can be, makes us impotent to be what God believes we should be – by His grace. Of course, we will always need grace. But grace does not prevent us from attaining this purity. Instead, “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12, ESV).
So do not stop with the truth that grace saves us in our shortcomings. Rather, let grace compel us to drive us beyond it as Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize. . .” (Phil. 3:14).
Therefore, every day, practice the righteousness to which God has called us. The ideals of His Sermon may be difficult to understand, swallow or practice, yet He ends His sermon with the illustration of the foolish and wise builder. He tells us: “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… 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 the sand” (Mt.7:24-27).
You will perform what you practice. So get busy today, trusting in His grace, and practice righteousness.