I was thinking this morning about a passage that’s been on my mind the last several months:
““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 7:21-23 NASB
There has been a nagging thought running through my mind during this time, and a fear along with it, am I going to stand before Christ and say these same words? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not doubting my salvation, although my prayers have included “God, I ask that you know me.”
I want to not only perform miracles like He has gifted me with, but I also want to truly know God better each day. I trust what Christ did was fully enough to save me.
This morning, I was thinking of this passage again, and God placed this scripture on my mind about the thief on the cross:
“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.””
LUKE 23:39-43 NASB
Our salvation is simple, and doesn’t include much more than simply placing our trust in Christ as the Messiah, acknowledging He has a Kingdom, and is the King of kings.
This simplicity compared to His judgement stating “Depart from me I never knew you” is crucial. Either we believe and acknowledge what Jesus says and did is enough, or we end up living in fear that it isn’t, and we are without excuse, even if we do the most miraculous things for and through Him.
It’s all about the value He places on us.
We determine that we got the better end of the deal when He gave His life for ours, as we may not feel we can offer something of value compared to Christ’s life in exchange.
The price is determined and agreed upon by multiple parties for payment of any item that is purchased.
What if He actually got the better end of the deal?
We are myopic based on our limitations of currently existing in time and space. He knows eternity past, present, and future. We don’t know what our final outcome in eternity with Him will truly look like. Here on earth in this life, we are limited to only giving Him our life, love, obedience, and worship. What will we be able to give Him in our true eternal form? Only He knows this, and I believe he saw that value from the very beginning. We are worth far more than we can realize in this life.
““The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
MATTHEW 13:44-46 NASB
2 comments
You can give up your salvation….ever wonder how? The father burns the branches that don’t produce fruit. How do we produce fruit, we stay in him. How do we stay in him… by following his commands. If it didn’t matter if we followed the commands or not, then there would be no point to. Don’t be fooled by the lie that “just believe” and your good. Believe (Faith) has always been the way to get favor (Grace) from God. But you don’t stay in favor by being disobedient. And his laws are the same then and now, he doesn’t change. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill every command and prophecy.
If “doing good works”(obeying the law((Torah))) didn’t matter…then we would’t need Christ to make it possible for us to turn back to God’s way, and thus coming back to God. He says draw nearer to me, and I will draw near to you. NOT the other way around. Although he will call you to his truth, it’s always up to you to follow the path. We can do all things through Christ means by walking the path he has set, we can accomplish the goal. If you’re doing what ever you want and calling eval what ever you want to call, then you can’t obtain the goal on your own.
So yes, you must also DO but doing doesn’t “save” you, trust does. But “I will show you my faith by my works”…
Fun fact, the Hebrew word for “faith” is emuha, which properly translates to faithfulness. Now go learn and do faithfulness.
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