"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. 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?” And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness,’
Matthew 7:21-23
All you need to do is log into your Facebook account or turn on the daily news and you will see many, many claims from people who believe they are doing the “work of God” for whatever cause they are interested at the time or when they want to win an argument with a stranger.
But how many of those people truly know the God of the bible? How many of them have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? How many of them immerse themselves in scripture and let the Holy Spirit work in their life? How many of them share their testimony and share the gospel not only when it is convenient, but always?
I believe that is what Jesus is talking about here. It is not okay to use God when it suits you because it makes you feel good about yourself. That is what we do in today’s world. It is very convenient to shout praise to God or throw out scripture when it suits our narrative and then cast Him aside when no one is looking. That is not how this works.
If you met Jesus today, would He declare that He knew you?
The good news is that God is filled with mercy and grace and it is not too late to do better. If this is something that you answered “no” to, you can start right now to do better! Pray, dive into scripture, accept God into your heart and build that relationship for real not just for show. Because one day you will meet Him and how great will it be when He welcomes you home and declares you one of His own!?
