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 in heaven. On that day, many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and to many miracles in Your name?’
Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’ Matthew 7:21-23 HCSB
Jesus is warning us here that what we do is not as important as why we do it. If we obey our parents just to get a reward or avoid a punishment, it’s not the same as obeying them out of love. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
When we love the Lord in this way, we obey His commands out of love. He said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commands.”
When we obey God to get recognition or think it will help us to avoid a certain punishment or get a certain reward, we are obeying for the wrong reasons.
There is one thing we can count on: when our life here on earth is over, we will either go to heaven or to hell. In our Scripture passage for today, Jesus is trying to warn those whose hearts are not right that while they expect to go to heaven, they may find themselves in hell.
How do we get it right? How do we make sure that we make it to heaven and avoid going to hell? I think the best place to start is James 4:8, which tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. How do we draw near to God? We do this by prayer and Bible study. Just as we enter into a relationship with a close friend, we begin by open lines of communication. We spend time together. We go into God’s house and praise and worship Him. In doing these things we come to know Him. When we truly know Him and all He does for us, we can’t help but love Him.
James 4:8 goes on to say, “Cleanse your hands sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!” Once we come to love the Lord, we will want to remove sin from our lives. While we will never be perfect and sinless until we get to heaven, it’s something we strive to do on earth when we surrender our lives to Christ. We want to obey Him because we love Him.
And what does it mean to be double-minded? Often times we want to keep a foot in the world and a foot in the church. This never works. We must surrender our lives whole-heartedly to our Lord and Savior.
Our life is a journey. It would be a pity to spend our whole lives on this journey only to realize we had come to the wrong destination. In Revelation 20:12 we are told that when we stand at the Great White Throne of Judgment we will be judged for what is written in the book of Life. Verse 15 tells us those not found written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire.
As we are in the beginning of a new year, it’s a great time to assess your relationship with the Lord. Look deep into your heart and be sure it’s in the right place. Love Him, honor Him and serve Him. Don’t travel your whole life in the wrong direction.
Get it right because we never know when we will be called home. Be sure you make it to the right place.
Have a great day!