"Not Everyone... Will Enter the Kingdom of Heaven!" - Matthew 7 Blog
Just reading in Matthew 7 during my Time Alone With God (TAWG). This chapter is loaded with several amazing sections of scripture, for instance, “do not judge”, “ask and it will be given you”, and “do to others as you’d have them do to you”. The main section I’ll be focusing on in this blog is, “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 who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 NIV)
Wow! Matthew 7:21 is definitely a scripture that will grab your attention. Especially since the Lord follows that scripture by saying, “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!’” (Matthew 7:22-23 NIV). If the Lord says “I never knew you” to those individuals, I’d say we better seek out some wisdom on the “but only the one who does the will of my father who is in Heaven” section of scripture.
So, what is the will of God in Heaven that we are supposed to do? Because, apparently some of those that were prophesying, driving out demons, and performing miracles in the name of Jesus, weren’t additionally doing the will of God in Heaven. The first thing that comes to my mind is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind... Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27 NIV)
In addition to that we should do our best to care for widows and orphans as talked about in James 1:27.
The second thought that comes to mind is that we truly need to do our very best to obey Gods commandments. Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15 NIV). Jesus also goes on to say this in Matthew 7, “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.” (Matthew 7:24 NIV). I know that if we slip up and sin, we have grace, but we should not take the Lords grace for granted. We should strive for the Lords perfection and do all that we can to not have slip ups in the area of sin.
The final thing that came to mind is what Jesus said here, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). We should see each day as an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with others, to be “fishers of men”. Each day, ask the Lord to use you in divine appointments to lead the lost to Him and to be “the good Samaritan” too.
In conclusion, our salvation isn’t about prophesying, driving out demons, and performing miracles in the name of Jesus. It’s not all about simply sticking to all of the ritualistic stuff either. These are all great things if we are able to them, however Christianity is really about our PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. It’s about seeking the Lord in prayer and in His Word when we are behind closed doors with no one else around. It’s about doing all we can to obey the Lords commands and walking in His ways. It’s about loving Jesus with ALL THAT WE ARE and loving our neighbor as ourselves. And finally, caring for widows and orphans, and sharing the gospel with others as often as we can. Now we know what “doing the will of our Father in Heaven” looks like, so let’s get out there and make our Papa proud. #NoExcuses
P.S. I feel the need to add this to avoid any possible misunderstanding and/or possible argument with all that I wrote above. Please understand that I am not saying that we need to do “works” to earn our way into Heaven as scripture does say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) So, our salvation was already paid for IN FULL on the cross and we are already forgiven for any sin we have ever committed through His ultimate sacrifice. However, that does not mean that we simply pray a prayer to receive Him and go about our daily lives with no true change in our hearts and no true desire to turn away from sin. When you truly accept Jesus into your heart, you are given a deposit of the Holy Spirit, which dwells within you. You should feel an overwhelming love for God and for people. You should have more of a desire to serve widows, orphans, and be that “good Samaritan” because the Love of God is so RICH within you. You should have so much JOY in your salvation that you desire to share it with others. So, all these things that I have just mentioned, ARE NOT WORKS, but simply a RESPONSE/REACTION to having the Holy Spirit and God’s love so rich within you. That’s why it is important to read the verse that follows Ephesians 2:9, which is, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10). God has a plan for us as a result of us receiving his gift of salvation… He has GOOD works that He would like us to do, and I believe those good works include the things that I mentioned above. : )
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