Not Everyone

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Not Everyone

Brian and Kathy Emmet

 

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, 

but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

 

“Jesus is Lord!” is the core Christian confession. The apostle Paul wrote that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9).

But – and—Jesus here says that saying “Lord, Lord” isn’t necessarily enough.

And even prophesying, defeating demons and performing miracles might miss the mark.

Some may hear Jesus say, “I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!”

How can Jesus not know someone?  Doesn’t he already know everything?

Know.  We think of knowing primarily in terms of having correct information, the right facts, rightly understood.  That’s important, but it’s not the kind of knowing Jesus is after here. To know the way Jesus is using it here is personal, intimate, reciprocal (two-way).  “I don’t know” you here means “We never had a relationship with one another.”

Intimacy means something like into-me-see.  It’s a kind of knowing where both parties allow the other to see-into-me, to get to know me as I really am.  It’s possible to do all kinds of good things – call Jesus “Lord,” do mighty works “for” Jesus—but never get to know Jesus, or allow him to get to know you.

I never knew you … perhaps because I am too busy.  Too distracted. Too anxious. Too obsessed with scoring spiritual brownie points.  Too intent on looking good, feeling good, being right, staying in control. So focused on doing for Jesus that I am not able to do with him.

Jesus is clear: our Father in heaven has a will, and that will needs to be done.  We’re not called to sit around endlessly contemplating divine mysteries, having “intense spiritual experiences.”  But in order to do that will, to do what God wants in the ways God wants it done, we have to get to know Jesus better.  Personally. Intimately, me seeing more deeply into who he is, me allowing him to see more deeply into me.

This seems scary at first.  But God promises that it will be worth it.

Too busy, distracted, anxious, obsessed, etc.  Did any of those describe you? What forms might repentance take – can you name a behavior that you could practice that would move you away from busy-ness, distraction, anxiety, etc. and towards a deepening intimacy with Jesus?

3 Comments

This reminds me of the unforgivable sin--if you're worried about committing it, you haven't. In the same way , if we're worried about being rejected we won't be. I suspect what God abhors is our apathy. Do we talk the talk but don't walk the walk? Our connection to Jesus is through his love for us and our love for him. Do we ignore the beloved? No! If we are ignoring Jesus we are no better than groupies, we're not part of the music. I don't think there's a set number of minutes we have to pray daily. If we carry love for Jesus in our hearts everywhere we go that's enough.
Could you play with the idea of some spontaneous times with God, a bit of God-on-the-fly?
Distraction is what I battle. Some days are better than others, but self control to do what I should do needs to happen. Roman's. 7, 15-20 is my struggle. I am not organized with a special time and place to be with God. I am spontaneous......there is so much room for improvement.



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