I Never Knew You
Matthew 7:21-23English Standard Version (ESV)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
We read the above passage many times but we usually brush it aside. Because it is too difficult to comprehend. How can we get rejected to enter the Kingdom of Heaven if we have the gift and power to prophesy, cast out demons and do many mighty works in Jesus Name?!
Relax.. do not get anxious now... we have time to fix it, if there is anything to fix. We'll take one matter at a time.
So, now we know that by having the gift to prophesy, cast out demons or do miracles, even in Jesus name, does not guarantee our ticket to Heaven. Do not envy those who can do mighty works, but look up to those who does the will of God.
TICKET TO HEAVEN = ANYONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD.
What is The will of God?
1. Our sincere and heartfelt repentance.
How do we tell whether our repentance is sincere? It is when repentance produces fruit.
Matthew 3:8 "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."
Matthew 3:10 "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
Matthew 4:17 "From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.""
Notice that Jesus' first sermon is "REPENT". So this is the first step.
2. Follow Jesus and call people to follow Him
Matthew 4: 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
3. Practice and teach God's commands
Matthew 5:19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Note that not only you must teach, but you must practice it. There are a bunch of God's commands. I suggest you take time to read it.
Jesus came to Earth to allegedly atone our sins. So, why do we have to repent since our sins are already forgiven? If someone wronged you, do you usually forgive him first, even before he ask for forgiveness? or that someone has to ask for forgiveness first in order for you to decide to forgive him? Usually, we humans will wait for their repentance first, then we forgive. Imagine, we go up to that person and say "I forgive you", and that person say, "What? I never ask for your forgiveness!". Do we agree that if we decided to forgive someone who wronged us, but that person is not repentant, we can never be reconciled or we can never go back to our original friendship state? Going back to Jesus' story, He already forgiven us, but we have to repent in order for us to be reconciled with Him and to go back to our original relationship state. He is waiting for our repentance. He already taken the first step to forgive whatever we have done in the past. Now, repent!
Step 1, which is repentance, is done using our own humanly mental strength. God make the difficulty level of this step to be the easiest among the 3 steps. Because we have to do Step 1 ourselves. Step 2 and 3 are God's will for us that we have to admit it is beyond our human capabilities to follow every single instructions in the Bible. But God is an understanding God, and His intention is not to destroy us. He does not purposely make all things difficult for us so that we will go to hell.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:8
God sends The Holy Spirit to be with us and to live in us to empower us to do God's works. He will remind us all the things that Jesus has taught us. He will prompt us when we are going towards the path of unrighteousness.
The biggest will of God is TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, MIND AND SOUL.
I would like to end today's devotional with the following passage:
25 One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”
Self-Reflect
1. Have you accepted the fact that God has forgiven you? Or are you still too prideful to admit that you have sinned?
2. Pick one of God's teaching today, and apply it to your life.
Let's Pray
Dear Lord, Thank you for forgiving us while we are still a sinner. Thank you for taking the first step to our reconciliation. I want to repent and proclaim that You are my Saviour and Redeemer. You will be my Lord over my life and I want to do Your will. Teach me to be the perfect child You want me to be. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!
Writer's Note:
The law of "Love the Lord your God" and the 3 steps that I wrote, do not contradict each other. On contrary, they compliment each other. When you love God, you will willingly do all the steps. To begin to love God, you need to know and realise what He has done for us. This knowledge, for some people, has to come to them by reading historical articles or hearing other people's testimonies. Christianity does not expect you to have blind faith on God. Christianity is formed because of the FACT that Jesus existed and His claims are true.
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