Didn't We?

             “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ So then, you will know them by their fruits.

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:16-23)

Do you realize how scary this is? A person could prophesy, cast out demons, and perform many miracles and not be one of Jesus’ disciples. That person could even call Jesus “Lord” without ever having had a relationship with Jesus. Jesus said we’ll know them by their fruit, but prophecy, exorcisms, and miracles would seem to be some major fruit. Yet here, Jesus refers to them as practicing lawlessness and says He never knew them.

Until today, I don’t think I’ve noticed what now seems obvious. What does Jesus say that the lawless will say? I suspect the key to their claim is the word we. How different the question would have been had they said, “Lord, Lord, didn’t You give us prophesies to share, and did You not use us to cast out demons, and did You not perform many miracles through us?” The people Jesus described would be lawless because they stole credit from God. They wouldn’t quite claim to be Jesus, but they claimed to be His representatives. Undoubtedly, they believed they were everything they claimed. Quite probably, lots of other people would have agreed. But they couldn’t get to know Jesus because their eyes were on themselves.

We need to pray for discernment, not only when dealing with those who claim to be Christians, but also when we look in the mirror.