NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS TO ME LORD, LORD WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM!
“Not everyone who says: Lord, Lord! He will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father..." Matthew 7:21
Shall we talk a little about salvation? In fact, let's talk about how many people are deliberately giving up their own salvation and how we should behave in order not to make that same mistake.
A good part of the people who are within the most diverse congregations will simply not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, they will not reach salvation if they continue treading the paths in which they find themselves today.
And what are these ways?
Their own way. For, as human beings we tend to think that we know what is best for our own lives, whatever the area; therefore, we tend to support and justify our decisions, dreams, desires, goals and wills on this egocentric perspective as if we had all the necessary knowledge to be able to determine what is good, right and most suitable for our life from our own vision. limited; but see what God reveals in Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the way of death is the end of it."
Many people gather together, call themselves Christians and confess that Jesus is the only LORD, but by their own deeds they deny every confession they make with their lips; as it was said in: "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Matthew 15.8. The fact is that these people say that the right thing is to involve the LORD in everything we want to work in our lives, to involve him in all our dreams, desires and desires; and I must admit that I have thought so myself for some time, for I was taught that way. However, the teaching contained in Matthew 7:21 made me wake up to the fact that we must not involve God in our desires, dreams and desires; on the contrary, we are the ones who must get involved in His dreams, desires and wishes for our lives; as clearly stated in, “Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father..." Matthew 7:21, and this for a very simple reason, what we think is good, or rather, can be bad or terrible, becoming source of damage, weight, anguish and pain for our lives in the long term, and the paths that we consider to be safe and adequate, whether personally, lovingly, financially, professionally, socially and even spiritually, can lead us to all kinds of battles. unnecessary deviations and abysses; even being our dreams, desires and wishes, we need to have the wisdom to recognize that most of them are based on our human and social vision that we have of life, which by the way is completely limited, and often distorted, even for people who have achieved great wisdom.
Only God himself knows all the infinity of variables that make up each life individually, the past, the present and the future, from our birth to the end of our days on earth, only He can see precisely the steps we have not yet taken and to know the result of our most intimate aspirations; and only God can know which actions, on our part, are capable of generating the best fruits and results, and therefore, only He has the complete vision and the ability to determine what really is the best and fits most adequately in our live so that we can experience life to the full, also called in the bible life in abundance, as Jesus said he came to bring to us, in: "...I came that they might have life, and have it to the full." John 10.10. In other words, that's why the heavenly Father wants us to have the clarity of understanding to abandon our desires, our dreams and our wills, many of which are not really ours, but were "surgically" implanted in the depths of our mind and heart by the voices of society and the whispers of the spirit of the world. And, abandoning all this, we can start to seek God's dreams, desires and wills for our lives, these are good, perfect, pleasant and totally adequate to generate quality of life in our existence, spiritual, personal, professional, social , financial and etc.. Remember that God sees everything, far, beyond our rational capacity; as it is written, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9; therefore, the wisest thing to do is to involve ourselves in His Will and not spend our whole lives trying to involve Him in ours. This simple change of understanding is the big difference between being a true, converted, and saved Christian; or, remain a mere forgery.
Cry out to God in prayers, supplications, adorations, praises and preaching, so that He will constantly carry out our own will or seek Him only so that He meets our desires and interests; as it was said in, "For all seek their own, and not Christ Jesus'." Philippians 2:21, exactly as a part of people within congregations have done, taught and been taught to do, especially in the present day, is a clear behavior that demonstrates that these people do not truly consider God as absolute LORD of their lives, because all the one who truly considers God as the absolute LORD of their lives expresses himself in the following way: "...Thy will be done..." Matthew 6:10B, and this applies to any and all spheres of living; spiritually, personally, professionally, socially and etc...
In fact, all some people want is for God to be their servant, and as such, to satisfy all the desires, wants, and interests they have, many of which are based on their limited human view of things, physical and spiritual, and , in personal vanities full of disguised selfishness and narcissism. The text of Matthew 7:21 clearly says that these people will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, no matter how successful they were during their time on the face of the earth, or how selflessly they lived; no matter how much they called God LORD during their lives, no matter how much they used the Name of Jesus to heal the sick, prophesy, cast out demons or work any kind of wonders; as it was said in advance by Christ himself in, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name not done many wonders?" Matthew 7.22. Realize that all these acts mentioned by such people will be true, for Christ will not say that they are lying, but even so, see what will be the answer of Jesus to their questions: "And then I will say to them openly, I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity." Matthew 7.23
And what iniquity did these people practice?
The iniquity of going through life chasing only one's own interests, dreams, desires, and desires regarding all things, from the smallest to the greatest; the iniquity of seeking God only to be served in their disguised vanities, selfishness, and narcissism; the iniquity of judging that their thoughts about how they should live were superior to God's thoughts, the iniquity of considering that their own ways were better suited than God's ways for them. Though they never admit any of it publicly.
Something interesting to note here is that in Jesus' answer he reveals that he will openly say that he never knew such people, this means that the Holy Spirit tried throughout these people's lives to convince them privately, within them, that to follow the paths what they wanted was not the best, but such people simply did not listen and although they spent much of their lives within the congregation, praying, praising, preaching, asking, and worshiping, such people were never Christians, they never experienced real conversion. , even having spent a good part of his life inside congregations, on altars, behind pulpits; even having made countless prayers, supplications, cries, good deeds, worships, praises and preaching; even boasting an accumulation of ecclesiastical and ministerial titles, members, evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles, missionaries, doctors or any others. Such people never listened to the directions of the Spirit of God, that is, they never wanted Christ to really be the LORD of their life, all they wanted and desire is to use the congregation, the bible and even God himself to to carry out in life according to the human and worldly vision they have; benefiting as much as possible to themselves, their dreams, desires, goals, objectives, wants and interests, social mundane. People whose prayer bases whenever possible revolve around thoughts and phrases like:
LORD, honor me;
LORD, give me a new car;
LORD, give me a bigger house;
LORD, increase my ministry;
LORD, develop my enterprise;
LORD, bless my affairs;
LORD, pay attention to my priorities;
LORD, make me earn more money;
LORD, give me more possessions;
LORD, multiply my prestige;
LORD, give me more power;
LORD, grant my desires;
LORD, make my dreams come true;
LORD, grant me victories;
LORD, add me more;
And so on. Their entire focus is on themselves, and whenever they get something of what they're asking for, they start asking again for more of the same in an endless spiral; a new car, more money, a bigger ministry, more fame, more power, more prestige, fulfillment of new selfish dreams and so on. And where is the "...Thy will be done..."? In other words they constantly say: LORD, do my will and not yours.
All these people are more concerned with putting and involving God in their lives, in their projects, in their goals, and in their things, so that the Creator always fulfills what they desire and none of them really prays the following prayer: "Father. ..Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 22.42. Because this is the constant prayer of true Christians, those who live to do the will and interest of their heavenly Father in every area of their life, and not their own worldly desires, these are the ones who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. , as said in, "And the world is passing away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:17. That is, these are the ones who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, as mentioned in Matthew 7:21 which says, “Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.” .
Those people who, though they never openly admit it, pretend that God is the Lord, and are more interested in other things pertaining only to themselves, are the ones the bible quotes when it says, "Their end is perdition, their god is their belly, their glory is to their confusion, who think only of earthly things." Philippians 3.19. Therefore, if we are really Christians, each one of us should make the following profound reflections:
1: Am I involving God in my stuff or am I getting involved in God's things?
2: Am I wanting Heavenly Father to do my will or wanting to do His will in my life?
3: What counts more for me are my dreams or God's dreams for me?
Meditating deeply on these 3 points, in the light of the scriptures, we will be able to acquire the clarity of thought and conscience necessary to truly surrender our whole life in God's hands, without reservations. And this is the way to submit ourselves completely to be transformed and to experience all the Father's will for us, which, perhaps, has no glamour, no fame, no millions or billions in money, no worldly success or victories; but it is good and pleasant and perfect; that is, full of lightness, peace, freedom, riches, prosperity, abundance, achievements, contribution, real victories, true joys and all sorts of blessings according to His interests. And in addition, by living in this way, subject to the will of God, we will also achieve the most important thing, which is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; that is, we will maintain our salvation as many genuine Christians have done before us.
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