Skip to main content

Evildoers

             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. 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 7:21-23

 

                This is another of those frightening passages that reveals that Jesus isn’t always all warm and fuzzy. People who have prophesied, driven out demons, and performed miracles in Jesus’s name might be rejected by Jesus. Nothing in this text suggests that these evildoers only pretended to prophesy, drive out demons, or perform miracles.

                There are times when I wonder whether I am actually saved or whether I’m like the evildoers who did great works, especially since I don’t see myself as having any noteworthy fruit. This is one of the reasons why WDA (wisdom, direction, attitude) is my prayer request so often. When I wonder about this, I have learned to go to God and ask for His guidance. If I am one of the evildoers described, I want Him to do something to change that. And when I feel like beating up on myself because I am so often so afraid, I remember petting Honey’s ears and thinking about how this was a way I could communicate love to her frightened, broken mind. If I could love her, surely God can find a way to love me despite my fear.

            Today’s verse reminds us not to live based on assumptions but to truly seek God because He will meet us. The works we do in His name are valuable to us only if we don’t hold on to them as valuable to us. Our works are of value only if He is working through us. If we claim His work as our own, we have joined the evildoers. 

Please Lord, reveal to us when we claim  Your work as our own or when we try to work in our own strength. Call us back to Yourself, so that we never have to hear what Jesus warns us about.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “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. 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 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more