Have you heard the story of The Three Little Pigs. The devil is like the wolf in that story, trying to huff and puff and blow our houses down. How strong is your house? #Reflectonthis #DailyReflection https://youtu.be/H6Ms_KoTZ_k

Scripture Reading
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

Reflection
Whenever I read this, I am reminded of the fable about the Three Little Pigs. Do you know the story? Three pigs built houses for themselves. One makes it out of straw, another out of sticks, and the third out of bricks. A Big Bad Wolf comes, and he huffs, and he puffs, and he blows the first house down and gobbles up the pig. He does the same thing to the second house and the second pig. But he is unable to destroy the third pig’s house. And whenever I think of this fable, I am reminded of Peter’s advice to “be alert and sober at all times because our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (see 1 Peter 5:8).

I imagine the devil to be like the Big Bad Wolf, huffing and puffing trying to blow our houses down. And our houses, if not solid, will fall down, and he will devour us. So how do we make our houses strong? Paul tells us. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he writes (and I paraphrase): “By the grace of God, I laid a foundation as a wise builder. But everyone should build with care because you can’t lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. One day this will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work” (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Jesus has to be the foundation of our houses, which, of course, is a euphemism for our lives. Which means he has to be the Lord of our lives. It isn’t enough that we say, “Yes, Lord!” We have to do what he asks us to do. But unfortunately, we tend to be very selective about what we do, don’t we? If it suits us, we are only too happy to do what he asks us to do, but if it doesn’t, Jesus could take a hike. The danger is that WE might end up taking a hike to destinations we would rather not go to.

As Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” And then he says this, although it is omitted from today’s reading. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The wolf is at the door. How strong is your house?

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Today's devotional — Wolf at the Door — is based on Matthew 7:21, 24-27, the gospel reading for the day. The reflection is by Aneel Aranha, founder of Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI). Follow him on Facebook: fb.com/aneelaranha

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