WHAT WORDS WILL YOU HEAR WHEN YOU STEP INTO ETERNITY?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Then I will tell them plainly,
“I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
(Matthew 7:23)

MEDITATION:
When you step into eternity,
which one of these would you like to hear from the Lord?
    1. “I never knew you, away from me you evildoer!”
    2. “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
    3. “You have fought the good fight,
           you have finished the race, you have kept the faith!”

None of us want to hear the first one, right?
    “I never knew you, away from me you evildoer!”
Unfortunately, there are some who are ‘religious’ but they
will hear those bone chilling words from the Lord. We can
see in God’s Word who will hear those words, and why.

Some will hear them because they claimed
to be believers but failed to do the Will of God.
    “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.”
      (Matthew 7:21)

We can convince those around us that we are obedient to the
Lord, even though we are living a life that is contrary to some
of His commands. We can also look for ways of justifying our
disobedience of selected commands from God, and convince
ourselves that it’s okay.

We can ‘sound religious’ to others, but God reads our hearts
and He knows the sincerity of our faith. He also knows which
of His commands we are disobeying (and so do we, don’t we?).
If we are partially obedient, then it means that we are being
fully disobedient to God in some areas of our lives, right?

Some will say,
“Look at all the work I did for You, Lord”.
    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?”
    (Matthew 7:22)

God can see our efforts, but He also knows the lack of sincerity
of our faith. We may have been busy doing things that appear
to be ‘Godly’ to others (and possibly were feeding our ego), but
we fell short of getting to know the Lord.

We might have allowed Him to be a part of certain areas of
our lives, but kept Him out of other areas (the sins that we
chose to continue committing to feed our sinful desires).

We may know someone like who is like this (or we might be like
this ourselves). We can ‘talk’ a good game, but our ‘walk’ doesn’t
match our ‘talk’. It’s a kind of hypocrisy that may or may not be
detected by others, but it doesn’t escape God’s awareness.
    So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment
    on them and yet do the same things, do you think
    you will escape God’s judgment?
    (Romans 2:3)

    You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister?
    Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we
    will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
    (Romans 14:10)

    Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.
    Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling
    block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
    (Romans 14:13)

We might be quick to tell others what they should be doing,
while our own lives are filled with selfishness, because we
have refused to obey selected commands from God’s. Why
would we choose to disobey some of His commands. It’s
probably because He has given us commands that hinder
us from pursuing our fleshly desires.

The second one is the approval we all would like to hear.
    “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
It means that God read our hearts and saw our desire to
be obedient to Him. We didn’t have a phony faith that
excluded Him from some areas of our lives.

It is dangerous and has devastating consequences whenever
we play around with God’s commands as if they are a kind
of smorgasbord, where we can select the ones we want to
obey and ignore the others.
    For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household;
    and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those
    who do not obey the gospel of God?
    (1 Peter 4:17)

    But I tell you that everyone will have to give account
    on the day of judgment for every empty word they
    have spoken.
    (Matthew 12:36)

    But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant
    heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the
    day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will
    be revealed.
    (Romans 2:5)

    For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
    so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things
    done while in the body, whether good or bad.
    (2 Corinthians 5:10)

We didn’t consider things like going to church, praying, and
reading the bible as chores to be completed on our check lists.
Instead, we looked forward to going to church to praise and
worship the Lord with other believers, and hear more about
Him and His Word.

We considered the Lord as our friend, and we had a desire to
communicate with Him often (through prayer). We had a keen
interest in receiving new information from His Word, and we
faithfully read the Bible each day.

The last one is as equally important to us as the second one.
    “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
It means the Lord has observed our lives and saw how we were
dedicated to serving Him. Sure, other things were important to,
us, but at the top of our priority list was, serving and pleasing the
Lord.
    This is how love is made complete among us so that
    we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In
    this world we are like Jesus.
    (1 John 4:17)

The scriptures give us the information we need for ‘fighting
the good fight’, ‘finishing the race the race’, and ‘keeping the faith’.
    Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
    cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that
    hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let
    us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
    fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of
    faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,
    scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of
    the throne of God. Consider him who endured such
    opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow
    weary and lose heart.
    (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Even though there are some who may question our actions,
we must rid ourselves of the things that cause us to sin. We
are told that the race (aka path) has been marked out for us,
and we need to persevere in staying the course (which means,
keeping our eyes on Jesus), so we can finish the race.

How do we do that? How can we discover our path to success
and stay on it? We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus. Why?
Because He has given us the best example for living out our
faith. Jesus knew the joy awaiting Him after He endured the
cross. When He paid the debt we owe, He proved His love
for us and showed His obedience to the Father.

Even though Jesus had a destiny with a very painful death,
He knew He would sit on the right side of God, the Father,
when it was over. He fully believed in the destiny that was
marked for Him, and it gave Him the strength He needed
to endure the cross.

Lastly, we are told that He had opposition from sinners and
sin the same as we do today, however He was never distracted
from His own finish line. When we recall how Jesus was able
to cope with His opposition, it can increase our confidence in
being able to cope with any opposition we encounter.

We can confidently ‘run’ toward the goal set for each of us
without getting tired, worn down, and weary in our efforts
to keep the faith and finish the race.

ACTION:
If you are saved, do you remember when you first invited the
Lord into your life? You wanted Him to have total control, and
you couldn’t wait to tell others how your life had been changed,
right? You looked forward to absorbing more of Jesus every day.

Has anything dulled your enthusiastic desire to fellowship with
the Lord? Have you been spending time getting to know Him
more, so you won’t hear Him say He never knew you? Have
you been following the path He has marked for you?

How would you answer the following question?
    “What have you done for the Lord, what
      are You doing for Him now, and what
      do you plan to do for Him in the future?”

Do you know the spiritual gift God has given you?
Do you even care to know what it is? If you have
discovered your spiritual gift, have you been using
it to serve Him? If so, how are you using it today?
    We have different gifts, according to the grace
    given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying,
    then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if
    it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
    if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it
    is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it
    diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
    (Romans 12:6-8)

    I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you
    has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another
    has that.
    (1 Corinthians 7:7)

    Each of you should use whatever gift you have received
    to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its
    various forms.
    (1 Peter 4:10)

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I want to know You and for You
to know me. When I see You face to face, I want to
hear You say that I have been a servant of Yours
who fought the good fight, ran the race set before
me, and kept the faith. Help me to keep You at the
top of my priority list. Create in me a desire to spend
more time with You each day. Teach me to enjoy my
fellowship with You and to follow the examples You
have shown me. Give me confidence to ignore the
distractions of this world as I follow the path you
have established for me.”

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